i  i 

t    JAMES  THORNTON.  | 

*  I 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/narrativeexposit00wilb_1 


SEP  20  1919 


NARRATIVE  AND  EXPOSITIoSp^ 

OF  THE  LATE  PROCEEDINGS  OF 

NEW-ENGLAND  YEARLY  MEETING, 

WITH  SOME  OF  ITS 

SUBORDINATE  MEETINGS  &  THEIR  COMMITTEES, 

IN  RELATION  TO 

THE  DOCTRINAL  CONTROVERSY 

NOW  EXISTING  IN  THE  SOCIETY   OF   FRIENDS  I 

PREFACED  BY   A  CONCISE   VIEW  OF  THE   CHURCH,    SHOWING  THE 
OCCASION  OF  ITS  APOSTACY, 

BOTH  UNDER  THE  FORMER  AND  PRESENT  DISPENSATIONS. 
WITH   AN  APPENDIX. 

EDITED    FROM    RECORDS    KEPT,    FROM    TIME    TO    TIME,    OP  THOSE 
PROCEEDINGS,  AND  INTERSPERSED  WITH  OCCASIONAL 
REMARKS   AND  OBSERVATIONS. 

Addressed  to  the  Members  of  the  said  Yearly  Meeting. 
BY  JOHN 'WILBUR. 


"  For  it  had  been  better  for  them  not  to  have  known  the  way  of  righteous- 
ness, than,  after  they  have  known  it,  to  turn  from  the  holy  commandment 
dehvered  unto  them."— 2  Peter  ii.  21. 

*'  Men  talk  as  if  we  ought  to  speak  leniently  of  the  faults  of  a  man  who  de- 
lights us  by  his  genius  or  his  talents.  This  precisely  is  the  man  whose  faults 
we  should  be  prompt  to  mark,  because  he  is  the  man  whose  faults  are  the 
most  seducing  to  the  world."— Dymond,  186-7. 


NE  W-YORK: 

PIERCY  &  REED,  PRINTERS,  IX  SPRUCE  STREET 
1  8  45. 


PREFACE. 


Inasmuch  as  our  first  parents,  as  individuals,  were 
subject,  through  the  wiles  of  the  enemy,  to  a  depar- 
ture from  the  purity  of  the  condition  in  -which  they 
were  created,  so  it  will  be  admitted  by  all  true  be- 
lievers, who  have  been  conversant  with  sacred  and 
profane  history,  that  throughout  every  generation  of 
their  descendants,  men  have  been  liable,  through  the 
same  beguiling  influence,  to  fall  from  a  better  to  a 
worse  condition. 

Hence  it  follows,  that  as  all  religious  associations  are 
made  up  of  individuals,  that  all  such  bodies  of  men 
are  exposed  to  the  same  danger  of  a  declension  ;  and 
for  this  reason  it  undoubtedly  was,  that  the  Lord  God 
of  Israel,  through  his  servants  Moses  and  Joshua, 
labored  abundantly  with  his  chosen  people  in  exhort- 
ing them  to  a  continuance  of  fidelity  and  obedience,  in 
the  keeping  of  his  covenant  with  them,  and  commands 
to  them — warning  them  against  a  lapsed  condition,  and 
assuring  them  of  his  judgments  and  indignation  that 
must  surely  follow  a  dej^arture  from  his  commands. 

And  thus  we  see  that  their  future  safety  and  preser- 
vation, consisted  not  in  his  having  once  chosen  them 


4 


PREFACE. 


from  amongst  all  the  families  of  the  earth  with  whom 
to  place  his  name,  but  in  their  continuing  to  keep  a 
single  eye  to  the  pattern  which  he  had  showed  them  in 
the  mount. 

He  had  done  wonders  for  them  in  delivering  them 
from  bondage, — he  had  brought  them  out  with  a  high 
hand  and  an  out-stretched  arm,  and  had  established  his 
covenant  with  them  as  his  peculiar  church  and  people, 
and  therefore  required  faithfulness  at  their  hands, 
answerable  to  the  favours  which  he  had  bestowed  upon 
them. 

He  had  required  them  to  love  him,  and  to  do  jus- 
tice, righteousness  and  judgment  in  all  things,  through- 
out their  generations — to  abstain  from  idolatry,  and 
from  all  the  evils  against  which  he  had  warned  them  : 
he  had  prohibited  them  from  mixing  with  the  surround- 
ing nations  in  their  ways  and  manners  of  devotion — to 
come  out  from  among  them,  and  to  be  separate  from 
them. 

Notwithstanding  some  of  those  nations  believed  in 
the  same  God  in  whom  they  believed,  and  held  and 
practised  some  rites  in  common  with  them,  and  coin- 
cided with  certain  things  which  he  had  commanded 
them,  such  as  their  altars,  their  sacrifices,  and  their 
priest's  services  in  offering  upon  them — rites  which  had 
been  handed  down  fVom  the  first  ages  of  time;  figurative 
and  prophetic  of  that  most  acceptable  sacrifice  of  the 
Saviour  of  men,  for  the  blotting  out  of  the  sins  of  all 
men,  on  condition  of  true  repentance  towards  God,  and 
faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Yet,  as  the  practices  of  those  nations  were  in  many 
essential  points  diverse  and  not  according  to  the  cove- 
nant which  he  had  made  with  his  Israel,  and  tended  to 


PREFACE. 


5 


idolatry  and  the  serving  of  other  gods ;  his  people 
were  therefore  strictly  forbidden  to  mingle  with  them  ; 
not  because  there  were  no  sincere  people  among  those 
nations,  but  because  their  ways  were  not  in  accordance 
with  the  pattern  shown  to  Israel  in  the  mount. 

We  find  by  following  the  history  of  this  once  favored 
and  chosen  people,  and  beholding,  as  we  do,  their 
gross  departure  from  God's  covenant,  abundant  evi- 
dence to  show  the  necessity  there  was  of  warning  them 
in  the  outset  against  an  apostacy,  and  no  less  of  his  mercy 
in  continuing  from  age  to  age  to  send  his  prophets  and 
messengers  unto  them,  to  testify  against  the  forsaking 
of  his  law,  lest  his  statutes  should  be  altogether  disre- 
garded and  trodden  down  by  them. 

But,  alas  !  how  many  sufferings,  reproaches  and 
persecutions  these  his  messengers  had  to  endure,  from 
the  hands  of  those  who  had  departed  from  the  Lord's 
testimonies,  because  of  their  faithfulness  to  him.  On 
the  other  hand,  how  many  of  those  called  prophets 
were  induced  by  bribery,  were  lured  by  the  love,  and 
driven  by  the  fear  of  man,  to  prophecy  smooth  things 
— to  flatter  those  in  power,  and  to  cry  peace,  peace  ! 
when  there  was  no  peace.  How  many  and  unsparing 
were  the  gifts  and  honors  bestowed  upon  men  by 
those  in  power,  for  the  strengthening  of  their  own 
hands  in  iniquity,  and  for  working  devices  against  the 
Lord  and  his  faithful  servants  ! 

But  blessed  be  the  Lord,  a  faithful  remnant  there 
was,  (among  the  many  hundreds  that  were  called  pro- 
phets,) who  feared  the  Lord,  that  could  neither  be 
bought  nor  driven  to  forego  the  word  of  the  Lord, 
nor  to  baulk  his  testimonies  to  please  men.  But  an 
apostacy  had  so  prevailed  over  the  rulers  of  Israel  in 


6 


PREFACE. 


that  day,  that  many  of  the  prophets  were  persecuted 
and  slain  for  their  constancy  and  faithfulness  to  their 
Lord  and  Master.  The  rulers  of  the  people  had  be- 
come so  lost  to  all  that  was  good,  that  they  took  light 
for  darkness,  and  darkness  for  light,  and  so  persecuted 
the  Lord's  true  messengers. 

But  a  reformation — a  better  day  and  a  better  cove- 
nant was  seen  to  be  coming,  and  was  foretold  by  those 
persecuted  messengers.  And  however  long  the  dark- 
ness of  that  apostacy  prevailed — however  long  the  com- 
ing of  a  better  day  was  protracted,  it  was  not  deferred 
until  human  nature  had  ceased  to  be  human  nature  in 
the  fall — a  condition  from  which  the  Gospel  power  is 
only  able  ever  to  redeem ;  but  this  redemption  is 
effected  only  upon  the  condition  oi faith  and  ohediencef 
so  essential  under  the  former  dispensation,  and  without 
which  fallen  nature  has  been  the  same  in  every  age,  is 
abundantly  evinced  by  the  grievous  lapse  which  has 
befallen  the  church  under  both  covenants. 

Thus  we  see,  however  better  the  day,  that  without 
the  obedience  of  faith,  fallen  nature,  or  the  natural 
man,  is  the  same,  and  no  better  under  this  than  under 
the  former  dispensation.  And  those  who  are  favored 
with  the  New  Testament,  and  do  not  live  in  conformi- 
ty with  its  precepts,  and  come  to  experience  the  power 
of  that  religion  which  it  inculcates,  are  even  more 
reprehensible  than  those  under  the  former  covenant ; 
of  whom  many,  with  less  outward  advantage,  came  to 
witness  in  an  eminent  degree,  that  which  was  then,  as 
now,  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

By  the  events  which  have  transpired,  it  would  seem 
that  the  same  liability  of  departing  from  the  law  of  the 
Lord  which  existed  in  the  Jewish  Church,  exists  in  the 


PREFACE. 


7 


Christian  Church,  and  that  individuals,  as  well  as  bodies 
of  Christians,  are  as  liable  to  degenerate  through  dis- 
obedience and  unfaithfulness  to  the  commands  of 
Christ,  as  were  those  under  the  former  covenant ;  in- 
asmuch as  the  temptations  of  the  old  enemy  are  as 
artfully  directed  against  the  Chrstian  as  against  the 
Jewish  Church,  and  only  detected  by  abiding  in  Him 
who  is  the  Light  of  the  world,  and  the  Lamb  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

The  lapse  of  the  Lord's  people,  under  the  former 
covenant,  is  strikingly  observable  in  the  lamentation 
over  them  :  *'Yet  I  had  planted  thee  a  noble  vine, 
wholly  a  right  seed  :  how  then  art  thou  turned  into 
the  degenerate  plant  of  a  strange  vine  unto  me  1  " — 
Jer.  ii.  21. 

But  to  mark  the  consummation  of  the  declension 
and  final  apostacy  of  the  Jewish  Church,  we  must  refer 
to  the  time  when  Jesus  Christ  came  into  the  world, 
and  call  to  mind  the  great  enmity  and  bitterness  which 
the  whole  sanhedrim  and  rulers  of  that  body  betrayed  ; 
their  madness  against  Him  and  His  doctrines,  His 
ministry  and  mighty  works. 

They  denied  Him  and  his  mission,  although  Moses, 
in  whom  they  trusted,  had  spoken  so  plainly  of  him, — 
they  made  and  spread  abroad  among  the  people,  all 
manner  of  false  reports  and  wicked  accusations  against 
him ;  and  made  a  decree  that  any  one  who  confessed 
him  to  be  the  Christ  should  be  put  out  of  the  syna- 
gogue ;  and  their  influence  and  the  fear  of  them, — 
the  bribery,  the  friendship  and  other  means  to  which 
they  resorted,  succeeded  to  an  astonishing  degree  in 
bringing  the  Saviour  of  men  into  great  disrepute 
among  the  people  ;  and  even  made  the  Jewish  nation 


8 


PREFACE. 


generally  believe  him  to  be  a  deceiver,  a  dangerous 
person,  and  a  disturber  of  the  peace,  and  that  there- 
fore he  ought  to  be  put  to  death. 

Finally,  they  bribed  Judas  Iscariot  to  betray  him 
into  their  hands ;  and  in  that  great  concourse  which 
was  assembled  at  his  trial  before  Pilate,  (where  only 
two  of  his  disciples  dared  to  come,)  there  was  not  so 
much  as  one  who  raised  his  voice  against  his  being  put 
to  death. 

By  these  high  professors  he  was  put  to  death — under 
great  pretensions,  and  professions  of  religion,  and  a 
zeal  for  the  support  of  the  law  and  covenant  which 
God  had  ordained  to  them  as  a  people  ;  making  great 
boasts  of  their  ancestors,  and  of  being  the  children  of 
Abraham,  whilst  they  were  doing  the  works  of  their 
father,  the  devil,  and  were  his  children. 

We  are  assured  that  eleven  out  of  the  twelve  of  his 
Apostles,  and  many  others  who  stood  faithful  to  His 
Gospel,  suffered  the  like  from  their  cruel  hands. 

With  these  wicked  rulers,  the  chief  Priests,  the 
Scribes,  the  Pharisees,  and  the  learned  Rabbis,  termin- 
ated the  Jewish  dispensation. 

When  the  spirit  of  this  world  rules  in  the  hearts  of 
the  children  of  disobedience,  whatever  they  profess  as 
to  religion,  or  whether  they  make  no  profession  at  all ; 
whether  priests  or  levites,  scribes  or  pharisees,  or 
mere  men  of  the  world,  it  matters  not,  if  destitute  of 
the  spirit  and  love  of  God,  they  persecute  the  Saviour 
of  men,  and  his  disciples  the  children  of  light :  for 
there  is  an  enmity  existing  between  the  spirit  of  the 
world  and  the  spirit  of  God — the  flesh  warreth  against 
the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh — consequent- 


PREFACE. 


9 


ly  the  children  of  this  world  war  against  the  children 
of  God. 

It  was,  by  that  spirit  of  this  world  and  of  darkness 
which  rebels  against  the  light,  that  Christ  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  persecuted  and  put  to  death,  by  the  Jews 
first,  and  also  by  the  Gentiles :  for  ^his  religion  truly 
was,  to  the  high  professing  Jews,  a  stumbling  block, 
and  to  the  wisdom  of  the  Greeks  foolishness  ;  because 
the  darkness  which  was  in  them,  could  not  compre- 
hend it. 

But  after  the  Jewish  nation  was  dispersed,  the 
Christian  church  continued  to  grow  and  increase 
greatly,  although  her  sons  were  persecuted  and  slain 
in  large  numbers  by  the  heathen  nations  :  and  death 
— to  them  welcome  death — was  almost  continually  in- 
flicted by  the  hand  of  man,  and  became  to  them  the 
happy  passport  to  an  entrance  into  the  fruition  of  light, 
and  the  realms  of  eternal  glory  with  Him,  for  whose 
cause  they  had  dared  to  die. 

Thus  the  tribulations  of  those  who  were  loyal  to 
their  Lord,  whose  mission  to  this  lower  world  was 
made  perfect  through  sufferings,  were  sanctified  and 
productive  of  a  crown  of  life  ;  whilst  those  who  were 
not  faithful  unto  death,  through  the  fear  of  man  or  love 
of  the  world,  were  cast  off  forever  and  denied  the  tree 
of  life. 

What  a  glorious  pattern,  therefore,  were  the  early 
Christians  in  suffering  for  the  name  of  Him  who  had 
given  the  example  before  them  ;  and  to  which  example 
has  been  added  these  precepts — that  it  is  enough  for 
the  servant  to  be  as  his  Master,  and  the  disciple  as  his 
Lord.  Fear  not  them  that  kill  the  body,  and  have  no 
more  that  they  can  do  ;  but  I  v^rill  forewarn  you  whom 


10 


PREFACE. 


ye  ought  to  fear,  &c. ;  for  to  those  who  know  God, 
and  the  Will  of  God,  his  fear  surpasses  the  fear  of  man. 

What  shame  and  blushing,  therefore,  ought  modern 
professors  to  take  to  themselves,  flinching  as  they  do, 
when  their  sufferings,  whether  by  the  hand  of  false 
brethren,  or  from  the  world,  are  so  entirely  incompara- 
ble with  the  sufferings  of  Christ  and  his  early  followers. 

But  in  process  of  time  the  Head  of  the  Church  was 
pleased  to  say  it  is  enough,  and  saw  meet  to  prove  his 
people  by  the  reverse  of  personal  suffering  ;  then  per- 
secution ceased,  and  ease  and  luxury  succeeded  ;  a 
soil  in  which  the  life  and  power  of  religion  was  less 
prolific  :  and  a  t7'iLst  and  reliance  on  the  Divine  support 
was  gradually  less  apparent,  the  love  and  friendship  of 
the  world  began  to  take  root  in  too  many  of  the  influ- 
ential members  of  the  Church ;  a  plant  which  could 
not  so  well  flourish  under  persecuti<m. 

Subsequently,  for  want  of  sufficient  self-denial  and 
true  humility,  the  love  of  power  increased  in  some  of 
the  honorable,  and  in  time  a  junction  with  the  earthly 
power  ensued,  and  a  disposition  for  greatness,  and  to 
give  and  receive  honor  one  from  another,  began  to 
prevail,  and  that  honor  which  cometh  from  God  and 
belongeth  unto  God,  was  less  regarded  and  less  in- 
culcated, and  at  length  profanely  transferred  to  men. 

And  the  title  of  Reverend,  Right  Reverend,  Holy 
Father,  and  Most  Holy  Father,  was  ascribed  to  men 
— was  called  for  and  most  sacrilegiously  given  and 
received  by  men  !  by  vain  and  sinful  men  !  to  the 
pampering  of  the  pride  and  haughtiness  of  man  :  thus 
shamefully  robbing  God  of  that  reverence  and  honor 
only  due  to  His  Great  and  Holy  Name.  This  consti- 
tutes idolatry  in  its  legitimate  form. 


PREFACE. 


The  sin  of  avarice,  and  love  of  rule,  and  of  absolute 
power,  took  deep  root  in  the  hearts  of  those  seekers 
after  divine  honors.  And  as  their  authority  increased 
and  became  established,  great  and  most  oppressive  re- 
quisitions were  made  upon  men's  consciences  and 
estates  :  and  the  Chiistian  discipline  by  which  the 
church  in  its  purer  days  had  been  conscientiously  and 
faithfully  governed,  was  now  disregarded  and  made  to 
give  place  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of  Popes,  Bishops, 
and  Synods. 

These  men,  or  this  body  of  men,  thus  assuming 
divine  honors,  did,  in  their  collective  capacity,  claim  to 
be  the  Church,  or  body  of  Christ — the  Holy  Mother 
Church,  and  vnth.  great  boldness  asserted  their  own 
infallibility,  and  that  the  Church  could  not  err — that 
her  decrees  and  determinations  were  imperious  and 
paramount  to  all  former  doctrines  or  discipline,  or  even 
to  the  Holy  Scriptures  themselves  ;  and  punished  all 
gainsayers  of  their  doctrines  and  practices,  with  ex- 
communication, or  imprisonment,  or  with  death. 

It  is  abundantly  evident,  that  the  deeper  the  church 
became  involved  in  error,  the  more  boldly  she  pro- 
claimed her  authority  and  infallibility.  It  is  no  1«S3 
evident  that  an  apostacy  of  the  church  has  always  led 
to  persecution  ;  and  that  sufferings  under  persecution, 
faithfully  and  patiently  endured,  have  tended  to  a  re- 
formation. 

The  Christian  exercise  of  the  true  church's  labor 
and  care  towards  those  who  have  lost  their  way,  is 
Discipline.  But  the  annoyance  of  honest  men  and 
women  for  well  doing,  is  Persecution.  The  former 
was  ordained  of  him  who  is  supremely  good — the  latter 
is  an  abomination  in  the  sight  of  God.    Again,  the 


13 


PREFACE. 


former  is  exercised  in  the  love  of  God,  but  the  latter 
in  the  hatred  of  the  wicked  One. 

The  advancement  of  any  people,  in  moral  or  religi- 
ous righteousness,  is  truly  more  cheering  and  hopeful 
to  an  honest  mind,  and  vastly  more  well  pleasing  in 
the  sight  of  God,  than  a  retrograde  course,  and  that 
without  any  reference  to  the  point  already  arrived  at. 

But  that  body  which  descended  from  the  primitive 
Christian  church,  and  became  degenerated,  has  never 
been  wholly  reformed,  although  divers  notable  at- 
tempts were  made  for  that  purpose,  at  different  times 
between  the  third  and  sixteenth  centuries,  notwith- 
standing a  solitary  remnant  of  sincere  believers  came 
out  and  stood  in  a  situation  of  detachment  from  it, 
during  that  period.  But  the  regal  power  of  the 
Romish  church  was  exceedingly  great — combining 
with,  and  encompassing  the  authorities  of  many  earthly 
kingdoms  and  empires  ;  and  before  whom,  with  a  Pope 
at  their  head,  a  Huss  and  a  Jerome,  with  a  great 
number  of  others,  fell  victims  to  their  ferocity. 

Will  any  protestant  say,  that  these  martyrs  were  not 
raised  up  of  God  as  witnesses  against  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal corruptions,  because  of  their  failure  of  success  ] 
Will  any  such  presume  to  make  that  failure  chargeable 
upon  a  want,  on  their  part,  of  integrity  or  purity  of 
intentions,  or  yet  upon  the  want  of  a  Divine  commis- 
sion, to  testify  against  the  atrocities  of  the  church  % 
For  is  it  not  a  true  saying,  that  the  blood  of  the  Mar- 
tyrs is  the  seed  of  the  church  ?  And  can  there  be  a 
doubt,  that  the  death  of  those  unflinching  and  un- 
daunted men,  gave  energy  and  resolve  to  those  who 
followed  after  ?  So  that  their  lives  and  sufferings  are 
not  lost,  but  cherished  in  the  sympathies  of  all  honest 
protestants  :  and  does  not  their  patient  induranc©  of 


PREFACE. 


13 


the  most  cruel  persecutions,  tend  to  encourage  every 
tender  heart  to  greater  faithfulness  in  suffering  ? 

But  the  enquiry  arises,  what  could  induce  these 
rulers  to  inflict  the  punishment  of  death  upon  the 
Martyrs  ?  Not  the  spirit  of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus, 
whose  kingdom  was  not  to  be  supported  by  carnal 
weapons,  but  whose  religion  is  love ;  and  who  came 
not  to  destroy  men's  lives  but  to  save  them. 

Was  it  not  their  insatiable  avarice  and  voracious  love 
of  power,  grounded  in  malice,  which  led  to  many 
crafty  inventions  for  their  own  aggrandizement,  and 
the  grasping  of  wealth,  and  carnal  indulgences,  that 
led  them  on  to  those  atrocious  deeds  1  For  their 
craft  they  saw  was  in  great  danger,  if  men  of  such 
principles,  and  such  Christian  eminence  as  the  mar- 
tyrs were,  should  be  suffered  to  go  at  large,  and  to 
promulgate  their  doctrines. 

In  time,  through  the  good  providence  of  Almighty 
power,  more  men  were  raised  up  and  made  instru- 
mental in  bringing  about  a  partial,  though  notable 
reformation ;  to  the  breaking  down  in  some  degree, 
the  power  of  the  Roman  Hierarchy.  And  although  this 
beam  of  gospel  light,  did  not  at  once  fully  dispel  the 
whole  cloud  of  papal  darkness,  yet  it  did  discover  to 
the  reformers,  some  of  the  greater  evils. 

Whether  the  minds  of  men  in  that  day  were  not 
prepared  to  endure  the  full  radiance  of  the  gospel  light, 
as  it  shone  upon  the  primitive  believers  ;  or  whether 
the  papal  yoke  was  too  strong  to  be  entirely  broken 
off  by  the  hands  of  these  witnesses,  I  will  not  pretend 
to  determine:  suffice  it  to  say,  that  God  saw  mete  that 
such  advancement  should  then  be  made.  And  be  it 
remembered,  that  even  this  was  at  the  expense  of 


14 


PREFACE. 


many  lives  of  his  faithful  martyrs  ;  though  not  to  the 
full  accomplishment  of  a  perfect  reformation. 

And,  however,  they  broke  the  ground  by  faithfully 
renouncing  some  of  the  grosser  errors  of  the  popish 
church,  yet  they  retained  and  unhappily  brought  out 
with  them  the  spirit  of  war,  retaliation  and  persecu- 
tion, which  never  existed  in  the  primitive  Christian 
Church,  together  with  a  deal  of  formality  and  useless 
ceremonials,  which  had  been  imbibed  and  accumulated 
during  the  dark  ages  of  the  church's  apostate  condi- 
tion. 

And  in  some  instances,  in  the  escaping  of  one  great 
error,  the  reformers  invariably  fell  into  another  in  an 
opposite  direction.  They  were  right  in  denying  the 
merits  and  works  of  Romish  observances,  of  likenesses, 
and  imagery,  of  holy  relics,  the  mass,  indulgences^ 
&c.,  &c.  But  at  the  same  time  entirely  overlooked 
the  spiritual  work  of  God  to  be  wrought  in  man^  and 
through  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  hy  man,  in  the  obe- 
dience of  faith,  to  the  regenerating  of  the  heart :  they 
erred  in  placing  their  trust  in  faith  alone  without  regard 
to  that  work  wrought  by  the  power  and  spirit  of 
Christ  iva.  the  heart,  to  the  regeneration  of  the  soul, 
whereby  He  subdues  and  crucifies  the  old  man  vnth 
his  deeds  ; — in  a  dependence  upon  a  faith  which  stands 
alone,  and  which  is  not  the  gift  of  God  ;  and,  there- 
fore, not  a  living  faith  that  worketh  by  love  ;  but  a 
faith  that  is  well  pleasing  to  the  unregenerate  man. 
If  barely  believing  in  Christ,  and  that  his  death  and 
sufferings  alone,  would  save  men,  who  would  refuse  so 
much  as  to  believe,  and  to  ascribe  much  honor  to 
Christ  for  justifying  and  saving  them  through  his  own 
sufferings  without  them,  and  without  the  painful  en* 


PREFACE. 


15 


durance  of  the  baptism  of  fire  and  Holy  Ghost  in 
themselves. 

Under  these  and  other  like  circumstances  it  was, 
that  the  protestant  believers,  although  they  had  faith- 
fully witnessed  against  many  of  the  Romish  supersti- 
tions, fell  into  a  state  of  ease,  relaxation,  and  the 
indulofences  of  a  carnal  mind  ;  still  trusting;  in  man, 
and  in  the  advancement  which  they  had  made,  and  so 
rested  far  short  of  fully  attaining  to  the  life  and  power 
of  true  Christianity  which  bad  been  lost  in  the  apos- 
tacy.  Then  the  Lord  was  graciously  pleased  to  stir 
up  and  to  visit  many  minds,  with  the  day  spring  from 
on  high,  for  the  blessed  purpose,  not  only  for  salva- 
tion to  those  individuals,  but  for  a  further  reformation, 
and  final  consummation,  and  establishment  of  true 
vital  Christianity  among  men. 

And  by  means  of  this  visitation,  many  became  un- 
easy and  dissatisfied,  with  the  lifeless  formalities  which 
yet  remained  in  the  Church,  and  longed  in  their  minds 
to  find  the  living  and  sustaining  substance,  of  which 
the  customary"  rituals  and  outward  performances  then 
practiced,  were  but  a  figure  ;  and  of  which  they  took 
place,  not  to  the  satisfying  or  removal  of  the  sins  of 
the  flesh. 

Among  these  seeking  and  awakened  souls,  was 
George  Fox.  He,  through  deep  meditation  ;  waiting 
upon  and  dwelling  with  God  in  spirit,  was  made  a 
chosen  instrument  in  unfolding  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  moie  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment ;  and  was  endued  with  a  remarkable  gift  of  dis- 
cernment of  the  condition  of  men,  and  in  the  mystery 
of  true  godliness ;  that  it  stood  not  in  form  but  in 
power.    And  with  great  meekness  and  Christian  cour- 


16 


PREFACE. 


age,  was  enabled  to  combat  the  sins  of  the  age  in 
which  he  lived  :  and  more  clearly  to  instruct  and  to 
direct  those  seeking  souls  to  the  teaching  of  Christ  in 
the  inner  man,  by  his  light  and  good  spirit :  and  to 
bring  them  off  from  trusting  in  man,  and  from  those, 
who  like  the  Papists,  were  still  making  a  trade  of  the 
Gospel,  a  thing  unknown  in  the  primitive  days  of  the 
Church. 

To  this  faith  and  ministry,  and  to  the  covenant  of 
the  pure  Gospel  of  peace,  many  were  gathered. 
These  separated  themselves  from  the  spirit  and  friend- 
ship of  the  world,  (so  prevalent  among  the  professors 
of  that  day,)  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  primitive 
Christianity  in  the  life  and  power  of  it,  to  the  purging 
of  the  consciences  of  men,  through  the  inward  opera- 
tions and  purgations  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  the  doing 
away,  (at  least  among  themselves,)  of  war,  retaliation, 
and  oppression,  as  well  as  a  hireling  ministry  :  all  of 
which  had  been  introduced  into  the  Church  under  its 
degenerated  condition. 

This  doctrine,  which  inculcates  the  belief  in  Christ's 
teaching  his  people  himself ;  and  the  faith  that  every 
true  believer  has  access  to  God  through  him  ;  as  also 
the  testimony  against  war  and  a  hireling  ministry, 
spread  alarm  among  the  clergy  of  that  day. 

Hence,  as  the  number  of  the  Quakers  increased, 
the  clergy  began  to  have  fearful  apprehensions  as  to 
the  safety  of  their  callings,  or  the  continued  enjoy- 
ment of  their  salaries  ;  and  consequently,  resorted  to 
the  exercise  of  their  influence,  (which  was  then  great 
in  England,)  for  the  purpose  of  disaffecting  the  minds 
of  the  people  against  this,  to  them,  new  doctrine,  of 
free  grace,  and  a  free  ministry ;  and  soon  succeeded  in 
raising  a  storm  of  persecution  against  these  unresist- 


PREFACE. 


17 


ing  Christians.  And  they,  the  priests,  successfully  in- 
voked the  civil  powers  to  their  assistance  ;  so  that  the 
spoiUng  of  goods,  imprisonment,  and  even  death  itself 
was  often  inflicted  upon  this  unoffending  people  ;  when 
nothing  could  be  laid  to  their  charge,  but  obedience  to 
the  law-  of  their  God,  in  honestly  promulgating  the 
doctrines  of  Christ  and  his  Apostles  as  exemplified  in 
the  New  Testament,  and  thereby  to  caiTy  out  the 
reformation  which  the  first  reformers  had  begun. 

Here  then  was  seen,  protestants  inflicting  persecu- 
tion upon  their  fellow  protestants;  (similar  to  that 
which  those  of  the  Roman  Church  inflicted  upon  one 
another  ;)  and  only  for  the  reason  that  the  latter  were 
consummating  the  good  work  that  the  former,  or  their 
predecessors,  had  begun.  And  the  evidence  to  prove 
that  the  first  reformation  was  not  complete,  will  be 
found  in  the  consideration  that  the  former  had  not 
arrived  fully  to  the  ground  of  primitive  Christianity, in 
that  they  yet  retained  the  sj)irit  of  domination,  war, 
and  a  hireling  ministry,  creating  jealousy  and  hatred 
against  the  greater  excellency — against  the  free  teach- 
ing of  the  Gospel.  And  no  greater  evidence  need  be 
called  for,  to  establish  this  point,  than  to  show  that  they 
persecuted  their  fellow  professors  for  well  doing. 

And  God's  permission  of  the  deep  sufferings  of  the 
many  messengers  whom  he  had  sent  to  bear  witness 
for  him,  is  no  evidence  against  the  validity  of  their 
mission  or  calling.  Their  sufferings  were  as  seed 
sown,  and  the  fruit  to  be  gathered  in  God's  providence 
in  after  generations — by  those  who  are  accounted 
worthy  also  to  suffer  for  the  name  of  Him  who  died 
for  them  ;  whilst  those  who  have  lifted  uji  their  cruel 
hands  against  the  Lord's  humble  messengers,  are 
equally  reprehensible,  whether  those  messengers  were 


18 


PREFACE. 


prophets  or  apostles,  or  early  Christians,  or  modern 
reformers,  however  unsuccessful  any  of  them  may  ap- 
pear to  have  been,  in  obviously  leforming  the  church 
from  a  lapsed  condition,  or  of  having  effected  a  refor- 
mation. Here  allusion  is  made  to  such  instances  as 
those  of  Huss  and  Jerome. 

It  appears  by  the  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ  our 
Lord,  that  the  persecutors  of  that  day  were  chargeable 
with  the  blood  of  the  prophets  that  were  slain,  from 
righteous  Abel  to  the  days  of  Zacharias,  who  perished 
between  the  altar  and  the  temple  ;  and  whether  more 
or  less  reprehensible,  modern  persecutors  are,  under 
the  light  of  the  gospel  day,  and  themselves  professing 
to  be  Christians,  the  reader  will  judge. 

Suffering  for  righteousness'  sake,  is  diffusive  of  the 
spirit  of  righteousness,  not  only  for  the  time  being,  but 
to  after  generations.  And  this  diffusion  of  the  Spirit 
tends  la  gather  to  the  cause  espoused  by  the  sufferers, — 

A  sword  shall  pass  through  thine  own  soul,  that  the 
hearts  of  many  may  be  revealed" — "If  I  be  lifted 
up  I  will  draw  all  men  unto  me."  His  gathering 
spirit  should  extend  to  all  men,  through  the  power  of 
his  death. 

But  among  the  sufferers  for  righteousness'  sake, 
Jesus  Christ  stands  above  all  and  over  all — His  suffer- 
ings were  propitiatory,  and  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of 
others,  as  well  as  procurative  in  the  ordering  of  God's 
power  and  wisdom,  of  an  immediate  and  universal 
pouring  forth  of  his  good  spirit ;  whilst  the  sufferings 
of  prophets  and  apostles,  and  all  the  faithful  martyrs, 
though  not  propitiatory,  nor  immediately  influential, 
are  mediately  influential,  through  our  outward  know- 
ledge of  their  great  and  unflinching  faithfulness  to 
Christ  the  Head  over  all. 


PREFACE. 


19 


Human  nature  itself  would  never  be  a  Christian 
martyr ;  and  human  reason  alone  could  never  compre- 
hend w^hy  God  should  yield  his  faithful  servants  to  the 
power  of  wicked  men,  because  it  sees  not  as  He  sees 
— he  cannot  see  how  success  can  grow  out  of  a  de- 
feat. And  even  the  disciples  of  our  Lord  themselves, 
w^hilst  his  body  lay  in  the  grave,  felt  as  though  his 
mission  was  defeated.  But  after  his  resurrection,  and 
after  he  had  taught  them  of  the  necessity  and  purpose 
of  his  sufferings,  and  had  breathed  the  Holy  Ghost 
upon  them,  then  their  understandings  were  opened, 
and  they  were  made  not  only  to  see  the  power  of  his 
sufferings  for  the  establishment  of  his  cause,  but  were 
made  willing  to  suffer  themselves,  for  his  sake  and  for 
their  own  sake,  as  well  as  for  the  honour  of  that  cause 
and  those  testimonies  which  he  had  published  and  or- 
dained, and  to  follow  his  example  of  non-resistance. 

But  the  successors  of  Husa  and  Jerome,  for  want  of 
more  of  the  understanding  here  alluded  to,  seemed  to 
apprehend  a  defeat  in  their  death  ;  and  to  retrieve  their 
cause  unhappily  resorted  to  unchristian  means,  as  did 
also  the  Waldenses,  eventually^  in  support  of  them- 
selves and  their  good  cause,  and  the  result  plainly 
shows,  that  the  cause  of  God  cannot  be  promoted,  nor 
his  work  made  to  prosper,  by  resorting  to  an  arm  of 
flesh,  instead  of  trusting  in  His  power. 

One  thing  is  very  observable,  that  the  peaceable, 
unresisting,  and  patient  endurance  of  persecution,  by 
our  early  fiiends,  as  dictated  by  the  precepts  and  spirit 
of  Christ,  has  hitherto  been  apparently  instrumental 
in  terminating  to  a  great  extent,  persecution  among 
protestants  ;  an  influence,  which  we  have  reason  to 
believe,  has  also  reached  the  Roman  Catholics. 

And  persecution  is  a  thing  so  heinous,  and  so  irre- 


20 


PREFACE. 


concileable  with  the  law  of  Christ,  that  we  may  well 
.  say  it  was  never  inflicted  by  one  true  Christian  upon 
another,  or  upon  any  other  person.  Discipline,  the 
church  of  Christ  has  always  had — not  for  wounding 
but  for  curing — not  for  the  annoyance  nor  restraining 
of  him  who  reprohates  the  evil,  but  for  reproof  to  him 
who  doeth  evil. 

But  seeing  the  liability  of  men  and  Christians  to  a 
declension  and  departure  from  the  immediate  govern- 
ment of  truth,  as  individuals  and  as  a  body,  induced 
George  Fox  and  his  fellow  helpers  to  institute  and  es- 
tablish a  written  disclipine,  both  for  the  Church  and 
for  the  members,  as  a  guide  to  the  ordering  of  Church 
government,  and  for  the  deciding  of  all  questions  that 
might  after  arise  in  the  society. 

They  were  aware  that  the  same  liability  existed  in 
the  primitive  church;  and  that  a  sad  departure  from 
the  meekness  and  true  Christian  spirit  of  right  govern- 
ment, did  by  degrees  actually  take  place  with  their 
successors,  and  saw  the  great  benefit  that  a  just  and 
wholesome  system  of  discipline  set  up  and  established 
during  the  purer  condition  of  the  church,  under  the 
authority  of  truth,  would,  Jiave  hem  to  those  who  fol- 
lowed after,  if  adhered  to  by  all. 

Under  these  considerations,  it  undoubtedly  was,  that 
the  discerning  minds  of  our  first  Friends  saw  the  im- 
portance of  a  written  system  of  Christian  discipline, 
set  up  and  established  under  the  dictates  of  truth,  and 
by  the  consent  and  authority  of  the  whole  church  col- 
lectively, for  the  future  government  of  the  yearly 
meeting,  and  its  subordinate  branches,  and  for  the  re- 
proof and  reclaiming  of  disorderly  walkers,  as  well  as 
for  the  praise  of  them  that  do  well. 

Coincident  with  a  written  discipline,  a  written  con- 


PREFACE. 


21 


fession  of  faith  was  also  adopted  in  the  society,  as  ex- 
emplified in  the  writings  of  the  first  friends,  and  agreed 
to  by  the  whole  society.  And  these  doctrines  were 
fully  recognized  by  the  discipline,  and  summarily  in- 
corporated in  it.  And  whosoever  therefore  deviated 
either  in  faith  or  practice,  became  subjects  of  dealing 
by  the  true  intent  of  that  discipline,  be  their  outward 
standing  or  condition  in  the  church  what  it  may. 

Hopeful,  and  in  a  good  degree  successful  had  the 
administration  of  this  discipline  been,  when  in  the 
hands  of  faithful  men  and  women,  acting  under  the 
authority  and  benign  influence  of  the  spirit  by  which 
it  was  dictated,  in  guarding  against  innovation,  and  hon- 
estly laboring  for  the  safety  of  the  society.  And  the 
only  ground  of  fear  which  may  be  entertained,  of  a 
final  lapse  or  departure  from  that  discipline,  is  a  defec- 
tion of  principle — in  the  ruling  members  of  the  body. 

But  notwithstanding  the  many  advantages  with 
which  the  society  is  favored,  the  reasoning  is  undeni- 
able, that  if  unhappily  the  "  leaders  of  the  people" 
should  become  apostate  in  principle  and  practice,  as 
did  the  successors  of  the  Primitive  church,  that  excel- 
lent system  of  doctrine  and  discipline  handed  down 
by  George  Fox  and  his  cotemporaries,  would  not 
govern  their  proceedings  ;  but  would  be  disregarded 
or  shaped  into  a  mere  automaton,  and  turned  in  an 
unhallowed  manner  to  almost  any  direction,  or  made 
to  serve  almost  any  purpose  that  such  men  might 
choose,  and  finally  be  changed  into  an  instrument  of 
persecution  ! 

Notwithstanding  the  great  and  helping  hand  of  such 
a  system  of  discipline  ;  is  not  the  deepest  concern- 
ment to  the  church  under  our  name,  involved  in  the 
rectitude  of  the  rulers  ?    And  in  the  inquiry  whether 


22 


PREFACE. 


this  people  are  more  secure  and  less  liable  to  an  apos^ 
tacy  than  was  the  primitive  church  1  Is  it  not  obvious 
that  when  the  heads  of  the  tribes  begin  to  cry  peace, 
peace,  and  to  preach  up  the  safety  and  infallibility  of 
the  church  and  of  themselves,  that  the  greater  danger 
aw  aits  it,  as  in  the  middle  ages  Yes  ;  and  then  it  is 
that  the  wakeful  and  faithful  sentinel  sees  the  greater 
cause  of  alarm  and  the  most  imminent  danger. 

And  how  many  deeply  exercised  and  afflicted  la- 
borers could  be  named,  from  the  days  of  George  Fox 
down  to  the  present  time,  who  have  watched  over  this 
people  as  they  have  watched  over  their  own  souls  : 
and  how  often  have  they  trembled  with  fear  for  the 
church's  safety,  when  they  were  made  to  see  in  the 
visions  of  light,  that  an  enemy  had  entered  the  camp  : 
and  how  faithful  to  give  the  watchword  of  alarm,  and 
to  cry  aloud  for  the  awakening  of  the  armor  bearers, 
lest,  while  men  slept  in  security,  the  city  should  be 
broken  up. 

And  whether  there  is  danger  of  a  departure  from 
doctrine  or  discipline,  or  of  the  leaders  of  the  people, 
lording  of  it  over  the  heritage,  and  causing  the  people 
to  err,  at  the  present  time,  the  watchful  and  sincere 
reader  of  the  following  history  of  measures  and  pro- 
ceedings, will  be  prepared  to  judge. 

The  following  narrative  has  been  taken  from  records 
made  at  the  time  when  the  events  took  place,  and  is 
offered  to  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in 
New  England,  and,  if  practicable,  to  the  awakening 
of  all  to  a  sense  of  our  condition,  and  to  the  necessity 
of  a  soundness  of  faith,  and  a  scrupulous  regard  to  our 
discipline. 


INTRODUCTION. 


By  way  of  introduction,  it  appears  proper  to  add  the 
following,  taken  from  the  author's  documents,  or 
records  of  things  which  transpired  in  England,  or  came 
to  his  observation  during  his  visit  to  that  country,  in 
the  early  part  whereof  his  mind  was  brought  into  deep 
exercise  by  the  unexpected  discovery  of  a  spirit  at 
work,  in  the  minds  of  some  of  the  influential  members 
of  our  society ;  which  appeared  to  him  to  be  at  vari- 
ance vTith  the  established  and  well  known  doctrines 
and  testimonies  of  friends  :  and  as  he  advanced  in  his 
religious  engagements,  more  and  more  of  this  spirit 
was  brought  to  view,  in  a  manner  which  led  him  to 
suspect  that  the  society  was,  at  least  in  some  danger, 
either  of  a  retrograde  lapse,  as  a  body  into  a  similar 
state  of  things  from  whence  it  came  out  j  or  otherwise 
of  a  rent  or  division ;  if  its  members  generally  could 
not  be  awakened  to  the  perils  which  he  thought  await- 
ed them,  or  induced  more  decidedly  to  rally  to  the 
standard  which  George  Fox  and  his  fellow  helpers  set 
up  against  the  spirit  and  friendship  of  the  world :  as 
well  as  against  the  ceremonials  and  false  doctrines 


24 


INTRODUCTION. 


which  then  remained  among  the  protestant  professors 
of  Christianity. 

Finding  this  departure  so  formidable,  on  account  of 
the  talent  and  station  of  many  of  those  concerned  in 
it,  his  mind  was  brought  into  great  distress,  and  mourn- 
ing over  the  flock  of  God,  once  so  loyal  to  the  precepts 
of  Christ,  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Covenant.  But 
now  alas  !  in  this  very  land  where  this  standard  was 
first  set  up,  (after  the  apostacy,)  a  departure  from  first 
principles  was  seen  among  some  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers ;  the  consideration  of  which  was  very  afflicting  at 
times  during  his  sojourn  in  that  land. 

He  saw,  or  thought  he  saw,  the  great  subtilty  of  the 
enemy,  (in  taking  advantage  of  the  Hicksite  heresy, 
which  led  off"  on  the  one  side  from  the  true  doctrine,) 
working  on  the  minds  of  those  who  were  the  most 
prepared  to  forsake  the  original  ground  of  vitality :  so 
that  whilst  they  were  guarding  against  a  fatal  lapse  on 
the  one  hand,  he  might  the  more  easily  and  unsuspect- 
edly  plunge  them  into  another  as  destructive  on  the 
other  hand, — both  insiduous  and  defective  in  relation 
to  the  true  faith  in  the  offices  and  attributes  of  the 
Saviour  of  men. 

It  was  under  these  circumstances  and  apprehensions, 
that  the  author  wrote  a  series  of  letters  whilst  in  that 
country,  to  his  friend  G.  C,  which  were  by  him  pub- 
lisVied,  for  the  purpose  of  apprising,  at  least,  some  of 
his  friends,  of  this  exercise  and  concern,  and  with  a 
desire  that  both  of  these  extremes  and  departures 
might  be  avoided. 

These  letters  drew  upon  their  author,  as  well  as 
their  publisher,  the  great  displeasure  of  those  in  Eng- 
land, who  were  disposed  to  confound  Hicksism  with 
primitive  Quakerism.    They  came  out  on  the  eve  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


25 


the  publication  of  their  avowed  sentiments  to  that 
effect ;  which  they  soon  after  published  in  a  work 
called  the  "  Beacon,"  and  which  also  contained  many 
ether  sentiments,  which  stand  directly  at  variance  with 
the  fundamental  doctrines  of  friends.  Many  of  the 
abettors  of  these  opinions  soon  after  separated  them- 
selves from  the  society,  and  set  up  meetir.gs  of  their 
own  ;  and  much  better  would  it  have  been  for  the 
society,  if  all  at  that  time,  who  hekl  opinions  discord- 
ant with  those  of  R.  Barclay,  had  withdrawn  from 
friends,  and  openly  avowed  their  real  sentiments  on 
the  Christian  leligion  ;  if  indeed  they  were  beyond 
the  reach  of  being  reclaimed. 

Subsequently,  when  the  author  returned  to  America, 
a  number  were  not  wanting  in  New  England,  who 
instead  of  strengthening  his  hands  in  that  important 
concern,  as  they  ought  to  have  done,  hesitated  not  to 
condemn  his  letters  and  the  publication  of  them,  and 
thereby  much  too  nearly  committed  themselves  to  the 
views  which  those  letters  were  intended  to  counteract, 
affirming,  "  that  the  state  of  things  in  England  was 
not  such  as  called  for  the  writing  of  those  letters." 
They  professed  to  know  more  of  the  state  of  things  in 
that  country,  than  one  who  had  mingled  largely  with 
the  society  there,  and  had  held  conversation  with  most 
or  all  of  their  principal  characters. 

But  the  coming  out  of  the  "  Beacon"  soon  after, 
and  the  author  of  it  being  strongly  supported,  as  he 
was,  by  divers  leading  and  influential  characters,  put 
the  question  out  of  all  dispute  with  sound  friends,  that 
those  letters  were  needful  on  the  occasion  and  publish- 
ed at  the  right  time,— that  it  was  highly  important  that 
something  of  the  kind  should  have  been  laid  before  the 
society  at  that  time. 


26 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  author  of  these  letters  does  not  pretend  to  say, 
by  any  means,  that  they  were  the  best  thing  that  could 
have  been  done  on  the  occasion  ;  but  he  does  say,  that 
seeing  the  sentiment  was  getting  abroad  in  England 
that  primitive  Quakerism  was  nearly  allied  to,  if  not 
the  same  thing  as  Hicksism,  that  something  of  the  kind 
was  very  needful  to  set  forth  and  define  the  vast  differ- 
ence between  them,  as  well  as  to  controvert  another 
idea  put  forth  there,  viz.  that  the  leading  characters 
now  in  England,  were  equal,  if  not  superior  to  G.  Fox, 
W.  Penn,  R.  Barclay,  and  their  cotemporaries  ;  and 
that  if  the  early  Friends  had  not  come  out  until  the 
present  day,  Quakerism  would  have  been  a  very  dif- 
ferent thing!" 

Whosoever  attentively  reads  that  publication  called 
the  Beacon"  will  find  its  grand  object  was  to  con" 
found  primitive  Quakerism  with  Hicksism ;  and  then 
by  reading  the  letters  above  mentioned,  it  will  be 
plainly  seen  that  one  of  the  leading  objects  of  them 
was,  to  show  the  distinction,  and  to  set  forth  the  utter 
disparity  between  the  sound  Christian  doctrines  of 
our  first  friends,  and  the  doctrines  of  Elias  Hicks.* 

When  that  pernicious  book  called  the  "  Beacon,"  so 
subversive  of  Quakerism,  as  well  as  of  vital  Chris- 
tianity, reached  this  country,  the  writer  of  this,  under 


*  III  attempting  to  prove  that  Hicksism  is  in  accordance  with 
primitive  Quakerism,,  the  Beaconites  and  Hicksites  arc  in  this  one 
thing  well  agreed,  and  equally  dislike  and  condemn  those  letters. 
By  a  reference  to  Joseph  J.  Gm-ney's  Brief  Remarks  upon  Scripture 
Passages,  it  will  be  found  that  his  views  evidently  approximate  to 
theirs  upon  the  same  subject. 

In  that  book,  in  his  attempt  to  refute  our  early  Friend's  doctrine> 
he  boldly  charges  their  views  of  Scripture  passages  with  "  error  and 
heresy" — with  aiding  that  tremendous  proce<is  ofheresy  in  America* 


INTRODUCTION. 


27 


the  same  concern,  used  his  best  endeavours  to  prevail 
on  the  meeting  for  sufferings  for  New  England  to 
testify  against  its  sentiments,  but  his  labours  in  this 
respect  were  unsuccessful. 

It  is  believed  to  be  due  to  the  editor  of  the  following 
naiTative,  to  state  that  he  did  unwaveringly,  on  all 
suitable  occasions,  express  his  dissatisfaction  with  the 
sentiments  of  Elisha  Bates,  when  he  last  attended 
New  England  Yearly  Meeting  as  a  minister,  and  after- 
wards until  his  apostacy  was  fully  developed,  whilst 
some  of  the  prominent  members  of  our  Yearly  Meet- 
ing spoke  highly  in  commendation  of  him. 

But  the  denial  of  the  wntings  of  our  early  Friends, 
by  Joseph  John  Gurney,*  is  no  less  palpable  than 
either  E.  Bates  or  Isaac  Crewdson's  ;  which  is  easily 
proved  by  a  reference  to  the  writings  of  the  former, 
hereinafter  brought  to  view.  And  it  is  as  easily  proved 
that  the  prominent  members  aforesaid  did,  and  have 
continued  to  support  and  defend  the  said  J.  J.  G., 


*  Ourfl-equeut  and  almost  only  recurrence,  by  way  of  objection,  to 
the  docti-ines  of  J.  J.  Guraey  iiilhis  exposition,  is  not  on  account  of 
any  thing  of  a  personal  nature,  nor  yet  because  there  have  been  no 
other  objectionable  sentiments  written  by  any  who  are  now  mem- 
bers of  the  Society;  but  because  his  are  of  the  greatest  notoriet}% 
and  very  extensively  spread  in  America,  as  well  as  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland. 

The  writings  of  Edward  Ash,  of  Bristol,  (England,)  are  probably 
as  defective  as  those  of  J.  J.  G.,  but  not  of  so  much  celebrity,  nor 
yet  spread  much,  if  at  all,  in  America  ;  and  therefore  unknown  to 
the  American  reader;  as  also  are  others  of  less  note. 

Wain  says,  "  But  eveiy  man  who  makes  a  public  declaration  of 
his  opinions,  with  the  avowed  design  of  converting  others,  subjects 
them  to  public  discussion,  and  has  no  right  to  complain,  if  those  who 
believe  them  to  be  unsound,  endeavour  to  counteract  their  eflfects." 


28 


INTRODUCTION. 


although  he  rejects  and  openly  controverts  some  of 
the  essential  doctrines  of  Robert  Barclay,  and  others 
of  the  early  approved  writers  ! 

The  doctrines  of  J.  J.  G.  contained  in  his  "  brief 
remarks  on  impartiality  in  the  interpretation  of  Scrip- 
ture, are  of  the  same  cast  vnth  the  "  Beacon,"  and  so 
nearly  agreeing  in  substance,  that  a  wise  man  could 
scarcely  distinguish  the  purport  of  the  one  from  the 
other.  This  book  has  been  fully  endorsed  before  the 
public,  by  the  Beaconites.  And  we  are  most  credibly 
informed,  that  they  declare  their  sentiments,  such  as 
are  at  variance  w^ith  those  of  Friends,  were  suggested 
to  them  by  the  writings  of  J.  J.  Gurney. 

Each  of  these  writers  have  published  doctrines  es- 
sentially at  variance  with  those  of  the  religious  society 
of  Friends,  which  being  carried  out  and  adopted,  must 
unavoidably  undermine  Quakerism,  and  it  is  self  evi- 
dent, that  whosoever  openly  defends  or  advocates  either 
of  these  men,  commits  himself  to,  and  identifies  himself 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  man  whom  he  thus  defends 
against  the  Society ;  and  the  more  especially  so,  if  that 
defence  be  made  upon  the  occasion  of  others  opposing 
such  doctrines.  This  course  has  been  unhappily  pur- 
sued, and  to  a  fearful  extent,  by  those  prominent  mem- 
bers of  New  England  Yearly  Meeting,  to  whom  allu- 
sion has  been  already,  and  will  be  more  frequently 
hereafter  made. 

The  intelligent  reader  will  readily  recognize  in  such 
committal,  the  groundwork  of  the  present  controversy, 
as  will  fully  appear  in  the  subsequent  part  of  this 
work. 

It  is  apprehended  that  a  loss,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  of  the  Virtue,  Life,  and  Power,  of  pure  Chris- 
tianity, has  prepared  the  minds  of  too  many  in  the 


\ 

INTRODUCTION. 


29 


Society  of  Friends,  to  imbibe  sentiments  which  are  at 
variance  \vith  true  self-denial,  and  a  full  conformity  to 
the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and,  consequently, 
with  his  doctrines,  as  held  and  laid  down  by  the  early 
writers  in  our  Society.  That  a  gi'eat  tendency  out- 
ward, and  to  outward  views  and  outward  things,  has, 
of  late,  been  apparent  in  this  once  greatly  favored 
Society,  is  veiy  obvious. 

Consequently  the  sentiments  of  some  writers,  who 
have  not  known  the  living  savour  of  the  Divine  life 
to  predominate  in  their  own  hearts,  (or  otherwise  have 
lost  its  unction,)  have  sorrowfully  spread  and  taken 
root  in  many  minds. 

And  the  authors  of  such  sentiments  appear  to  have 
obtained  great  place  with  many  of  our  members,  and 
to  have  much  influence  over  them. 

Moreover  the  great  schism  and  fearful  departure 
from  the  Christian  covenant  on  the  one  hand,  in  the 
Society  farther  west,  has  furnished  the  enemy  with 
vast  and  powerful  machinery,  to  delude,  deceive,  and 
draw  ofi*,  from  the  same  covenant  on  the  other  hand, 
insomuch  that  many  of  those  who  were  not  caught  in 
the  snare  of  that  apostacy,  called  Hicksism,  have  been 
of  late  in  great  jeopaidy,  by  the  influence  and  insidi- 
ous sentiments  of  persons  of  genius,  high  standing, 
and  great  learning  in  the  schools  of  men,  tending  to 
draw  away  from  the  same  gospel  covenant  in  an  op- 
posite direction. 

These  having  lost,  or  never  found  that  hidden  trea- 
sure of  this  covenant,  as  revealed  by  the  Divine  Power 
in  the  inner  man  of  the  heart,  have  taken  offence  at 
the  law  and  the  restraints  of  a  meek^and  lowly  Saviour, 
and  so  far  imbibed  the^spirit  of  this  world  and  of  the 
age,  as  to  despise  the  foolishness  of  the  Cross,  which 


30 


INTRODUCTION. 


is  the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  and  not 
of  man,  nor  of  the  flesh,  but  of  God. 

Instead  of  submitting,  therefore,  to  die  with  Christ, 
and  to  abide  the  painful  struggle  of  yielding  up  the 
will  and  wisdom  of  the  flesh,  these  have  moulded  and 
fashioned  to  themselves  a  substitute,  by  professionally 
extolling  and  claiming  the  faith  of  Christ's  incarnate 
sufferings  and  propitiatory  sacrifice  upon  the  Cross 
without  the  gates  of  Jerusalem,  as  the  whole  covenant 
of  salvation,  and  by  Him  thus  accomplished  without 
them  ;  and,  consequently,  it  is  feared  are  carnally  be- 
lieving and  trusting  in  this  alone  for  justification,  with- 
out its  essential  concomitant,  the  true  obedience  of 
faith,  and  the  work  of  sanctification  wrought  in  the 
heart. 

These  views,  and  many  other  of  the  like  tendency, 
having  been  avowed  and  published  by  Joseph  John 
Gurney,  a  member  and  professed  minister  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends  in  Norwich,  Old  England,  and  spread 
far  and  wide  among  Friends,  have  been  the  cause  of 
great  uneasiness  and  much  dissatisfaction  in  the  minds 
of  faithful  Friends ;  and  the  more,  because  many  are 
found  among  us  who  are  disposed  to  advocate  and  de- 
fend the  author  of  them,  without,  and  in  the  lefusal  of 
an  examination  of  his  published  sentiments,  or  a  com- 
parison of  them  with  our  acknowledged  and  well 
known  doctrines. 

The  fact  that  the  author  of  these  views  is  a  man  of 
gi'eat  influence,  and  |having  many  supporters  of  a 
similar  description,  does  indeed  give  cause  for  much 
alarm  among  the  living  members  of  this  Society,  well 
knowing,  as  they  do,  by  the  history  of  things  that  are 
past,  as  well  as  by  those  which  have  transpired  in  their 
own  time,  that  the  existence  of  these  troubles,  in  the 


IXTRODUCTION. 


31 


church  of  Chiist,  as  occasioned  by  an  apostacy  from 
sound  doctrines,  have  always  had  their  beginning  in  a 
little  obvious  diverging,  or  departure  from  some  essen- 
tial points  of  doctrine. 

As  two  direct  lines  which  begin  to  diverge  from 
each  other,  (though  barely  apparent  at  first,)  if  they 
continue,  will,  in  time,  come  to  be  at  a  great  distance 
asunder. 

So  these  have  seen,  that  when  men  of  a  strong  and 
independent  temperament  begin  to  depart  from  the 
fundamental  testimonies  and  doctrines  of  a  religious 
society,  they  go  wider  and  wider  therefrom,  until  a 
great  departure  from  the  true  meridian  is  effected,  or, 
to  speak  more  plainly,  until  they  adopt  sentiments  en- 
tirely foreign  to  those  from  which  they  at  first,  (but 
perceivably,)  departed. 

Some  of  these  concerned  Friends,  who  have  re- 
mained at  their  posts,  have  watched  over  the  "land- 
marks" of  Israel's  inheritance,  as  they  have  watched 
over  their  own  souls,  and  can  but  tremble  for  the  safety 
of  the  Ark  of  his  testimonies,  when,  with  their  eyes, 
they  behold  the  demolishing  of  those  stakes,  of  which 
the  good  Shepherd  of  the  fold  ordained  that  "  not  one 
of  them  should  be  removed."' 

And,  notwithstanding  what  they  have  fearfully  be- 
held, of  that  which  they  apprehended  was  an  attempt 
to  obliterate  and  to  cancel  those  distinoruishinor  siornals 

o  o  o 

of  our  profession  and  its  defence,  they  have  marvelled 
to  hear  so  many  of  the  watchmen  cry  peace  !  peace  ! 
when  the  citadel  itself  is  beset  by  a  troop  of  strong 
men.  They  believe  that  so  great  a  loss  cannot  other- 
•^vise  be  sustained,  either  by  us  or  by  the  world  at 
large,  as  would  be  sustained  by  the  breaking  down  of 
our  distinguishing  doctrines  and  testimonies.  And, 


32 


INTRODUCTION. 


consequently,  they  see  the  great  necessity  of  keeping 
a  single  eye  to  their  safety,  and  a  scrupulous  watchful- 
ness against  *'  every  appearance  of  evil,"  that  may  in 
the  least  forebode  an  apostacy  of  principle,  inasmuch 
as  such  did  happen,  to  a  sorrov^ful  extent,  to  the 
primitive  church — the  best  of  bodies — and  that  too  by 
small  beginnings- 

Furthermore,  these  concerned  friends  have  felt  not 
a  little  responsibility  resting  upon  themselves,  and 
upon  the  church  at  large,  by  reason  of  the  committal 
to  its  charge  and  keeping  of  the  most  exalted,  efficient, 
and  dignified  principles  vouchsafed  to  the  hand  of  man 
in  these  modern  times,  or  in  any  age  of  the  world, 
because  they  are  the  same  as  committed  to  the  primi 
tive  church,  in  all  that  relates  to  Christian  redemption 
and  salvation.  And  they  have  also  felt  something  of 
the  weight  of  that  appeal  which  was  made  of  God  to 
his  Servant,  the  Prophet  Ezekiel,  chap.  iii.  28 ;  also 
xxxiii.  8,  9.  "  If  thou  do  not  warn  my  people  from 
their  ways,  they  shall  die  in  their  iniquity,  but  their 
blood  will  I  require  at  thy  hands,"  &c. 

Moreover,  the  late  attempts  at  innovation,  by  those 
above  alluded  to,  speak  loudly  as  a  warning  to  us  of 
the  jeopardy  which  awaits  us  as  a  people ;  for  our 
unfaithfulness  and  disloyalty  to  the  blessed  Truth  is 
such,  that  Satan  appears  to  have  availed  himself  of 
the  advantage  of  our  relaxation,  and  seems  resolved 
to  divide  and  scatter  us  from  the  true  faith ;  still  we 
hear  the  cry  of  peace  !  still  we  hear  the  language  of 
safety  reiterated  among  us  !  still  we  see  a  prevalent 
disposition  to  trust  in  man,  and  to  make  flesh  our  arm ! 


NARRATIVE  AND  EXPOSITION. 


The  above-named  J.  J.  Gurney,  on  a  visit  to 
America,  came  to  New  England,  in  the  6th  month, 
1838,  and  found  the  ground  already  prepared  in 
many  minds  to  receive  and  defend  him,  notwith- 
standing the^efecjtion  of  his  doctrines. 

These  persons  whose  minds  had  been  thus  pre- 
pared, had  evidently  been  for  some  years  seeking 
for  the  control  and  dominion  over  New  England 
Yearly^jMeeting,  and  over  all  its  concerns,..in  which 
tKey  had  been  successful. 

'And  being  men  of  influence,  and  disposed  to  avail 
themselves  of  all  means  within  their  reach,  (which 
were  not  in  any  wise  very  limited.)  whereby  to 
clothe  themselves  with  rule  and  with  power — have 
drawn  many  to  them,  or  after  them,  by^their  prof- 
fered friendship — by  promotion  in  appointments — 
by  the  honor  o£  man,  and  by  temporal  favgrSj,  be- 
stowed in  many  ways.  '  By  these  means"  they  have 
encompassed  (however  unsuspected  their  object  by 
many)  a  great  proportion  of  those  who  were  active 
members,  as  well  as  others,  and  havepromoted  and 
made  active,  many  who  were  nof  so  Delofe. 

And  those  who  have  not  iallen 'Into  these  new 
views,  have  not  been  desirous  of  office  or  control  in 


34 


NARRATIVE  AND 


the  church,  and  consequently  have  not  put  them- 
selves ox  one  another  forward  much  for  appoint- 
ments.   And,  more  especially  of  late,  perceiving  a 
disposition  in  those  of  the  new  ground  to  exclude 
them,  have  mostly  refrained  from  action.    And  at 
(      the  last  amuial  assembly,  these  were  entirely  exclu- 
)      ded  from  taking  a  part  in  its  concerns,  by  the  sup- 
(      porters  of  unsound  men  and  their  doctrines,  deciding 
/      to  reject  from  any  service  the  names  of  all  such  as 
(      had  expressed  themselves  opposed  to  the  previous 
'      proceedings  of  the  Yearly  Meeting — thus  declaring 
such  out  of  unity — a  measure  which  had  already 
been  adopted  and  acted  upon  by  Rhode  Island 
Quarterly  Meeting. 

Those  who  had  thus  assumed  the  control  in  the 
Yearly  Meeting,  formed  from  their  own  number, 
standing  committees  therein,  as  also  committees  of 
Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  clothed  them- 
selves with  authority  to  visit  and  control  subordi- 
nate meetings,  and  consequently  to  control  the  reli- 
gious rights  of  all  their  members :  and  these  commit- 
tees have  not  been  backward  in  exercising  this  author- 
ity. And  further,  the  Yearly  Meeting,  through  their 
influence,  has  of  late  made  its  committee's  advice 
and  decisions  conclusive  and  final ;  so  that  appeals 
from  their  advice,  either  by  individuals  or  subordi- 
nate meetings,  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  is  unavailing, 
however  contrary  to  discipline  their  advice  or  de- 
cisions may  have  been. 

In  the  11th  month  of  1839,  John  Wilbur  felt  him- 
self bound  under  a  religious  concern,  to  visit  most 
of  the  Quarterly  Meetings  in  the  Yearly  Meeting, 
and  was  cordially  liberated  by  his  own  Monthly 
Meeting  for  that  service :  and  after  having  visited 
one  Quarter  and  some  of  its  subordinate  meet- 
ings, was  cited  by  one  of  these  committees,  to  ap- 
pear before  a  deputation  from  their  body.  But  their 
letter  not  arriving  seasonably  for  him  to  meet  them 
at  the  time  and  place  assigned,  he  called  on  the 


EXPOSITION. 


35 


writer  of  that  letter  as  he  passed  on  in  pursuance 
of  his  journey — his  having  made  a  stand  against  the 
new  doctrines  by  writing  to  some  ministers  and 
elders,  as  well  as  by  conversation,  was  alleged  by 
the  writer  of  the  letter  as  a  disqualification  for 
travelling  in  the  ministry;  but  J.  W.  was  enabled 
to  convince  him  that  he  ought  to  be  left  at  liberty  to 
pursue  his  journey — and  he  did  so. 

When  the  said  J.  J.  Gurney  first  arrived  in  New 
England,  there  was  a  report  in  circulation  that  he 
had  made  satisfaction  to  his  friends  at  home  on  ac- 
count of  his  exceptionable  writings  ;  but  J.  W. 
beino^  aware,  throu?xh  direct  communications  from 
England,  that  the  report  was  unfounded,  (a  matter 
of  great  importance  for  the  Society  to  know)  took 
an  opportunity  with  J.  J.  Gurney,  and  informed 
him  of  the  apprehensions  of  many  friends  in  regard 
to  his  sentiments,  as  set  forth  in  his  books,  and  so 
extensively  abroad  in  the  Society:  and  suggested 
to  him  the  desirableness  of  his  satisfying  friends  in 
relation  to  such  of  his  doctrines  as  were  not  in 
conformity  with  our  acknowledged  principles,  and 
thereby  open  his  own  way  among  us. 

But  instead  of  giving  any  encouragement  of  do- 
ing so,  he  entered  into  a  prompt  defence  and  justifi- 
cation of  all  his  writings,  without  exception. 

In  consequence,  therefore,  of  the  result  of  J.  W.'s 
visit  to  the  author,  he  believed  it  to  be  his  religious 
duty  to  caution  friends,  on  suitable  occasions, 
against  receiving  or  imbibing  the  unsound  doctrines 
alluded  to;  and  at  the  same  time  making  direct 
reference  to  some  of  the  most  exceptionable  among 
them. 

On  John  Wilbur's  return  from  his  eastern  visit, 
he  produced  certificates  from  all  the  Quarterly  and 
Monthly  Meetings  which  he  attended,_expressive 
of  their  satisfaction  with  his  services  among  them. 
And  soon  after  his  return  from  this  journeyrne  ob- 


36 


NARRATIVE  AND 


tained  the  concurrence  of  his  Monthly  Meeting,  and 
attended  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  Philadelphia. 

But  his  travelling  as  a  minister,  on  account  of 
his  objection  to  those  doctrines,  was  displeasing  to 
those  who  were  supporting  and  defending  the  au- 
thor of  them. 

It  being  apparently  too  much  of  a  circum- 
stance frequently  to  call  together  the  Committee 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders : 
and  further,  as  the  Committee  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting  at  large  was  not  authorized  to  recognize 
ministerial  service,  a  way  was  devised  to  get  a 
committee  appointed  in  the  Select  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing ;  and  if  practicable,  to  be  vested  with  authority 
to  take  hold  of  him,  and  to  stop  his  speaking  against 
the  doctrines  of  J.  J.  Gurney ;  or  travelling  as  a 
minister. 

To  effect  this,  deficient  accounts  were  brought 
up  in  relation  to  unity,  from  two  subordinate  meet- 
ings, where  themselves  predominated,  professedly 
for  the^  purpose,  and  under  the  pretention  of  be- 
stowing labor  in  the  cases  referred  to  in  those  ac- 
counts, a  committee  "  was  appointed,  ostensibly  for 
the  restorafion  of  unity  and  harmony.*  Howbeit,  if 
their  own  confession  is  sufficient  evidence,  we  are  war- 
ranted in  saying,  that  they  never  attempted  any  la- 
bor of  the  kind,  whatever,  w'lthin  the' limits  of  those 
two  meetings  from  which  tFie  defective  accounts 
came  up  i  although  more  than  four  years  have 
since  elapsed,  and  the  committee  have  been  dismiss- 
ed from  their  appointment. 

John  Wilbur  was  called  upon  to  meet  this  com- 
mittee the  next  morning  after  its  appointment ;  and 
they  artfully  attempted  to  make  him  a  subject  of 
dealing,  and  to  decoy  him  to  place  himself  within 
the  purview  of  their  appointment,  by  asking  him 

*  The  accounts  which  went  up  at  this  time  from  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meetmg,  tojvhich  J.  W.  belonged,  were  unexceptionable 
as  to  unity.  '  '  "  '  " 


EXPOSITION. 


37 


the  question,  "  whether  he  beheved  any  of  the 
members  of  our  Select  Meeting  were  unsound?" 
expecting,  as  was  supposed,  an  affirmative  answer; 
and  if  so,  then  here,  as  they  might  think,  would  be 
a  case  of  disunity  fairly  within  their  reach.  But 
their  object  was  seen,  and  the  question  not  answer- 
ed, although  all  the  committee,  save  one,  joined  in 
pressing  him  to  answer  it.  Being  defeated  in  this, 
they  severely  reprimanded^ him  for  having  been  to 
PhiladeTphiaj  accusing  him  "of  having  hiown  that 
they  were  unwilling  he  should  travel  in  the  minis- 
try. But  this  charge,  of  knowing  it,  he  was  able 
to  meet,  by  adducing  what  some  of  them  had  said 
to  him  and  others,  during  his  eastern  journey.  One 
of  the  committee  had  said,  in  a  letter  to  his  daugh- 
ter, that  ^'they  had  no  desire  to  stop  his  tj-avelling 
in  the  ministry"  and  another,  who  met  with  him  on 
the  journey,  said  "he  was  glad  to  meet  with  him 
there" 

But  they  brought  many  other  complaints  and  ac- 
cusations against  him,  of  which  the  principal  was, 
that  "he  had  written  and  spoken  against  J.  J. 
Gumey,"and  had  spread  long  lists  of  extracts  from 
his  doctrines."  [For  an  account  of  these  charges 
and  his  defence  see  his  letter  to  this  committee,  and 
the  vindication  of  it,  further  on.] 

He  now  informed  them  that  he  had  not  spoken 
to  the  disadvantage  of  J.  J.  G.,  otherwise  than  by 
a  recital  and  disavowal  of  some  parts  of  his  doc- 
trines: and  in  order  to  show  them  that  those  parts 
of  his  writings  to  which  he  had  made  exceptions 
were  unsound,  and  consequently  that  the  course 
which  he  had  taken  was  correct  and  agreeable  to, 
discipline,  he  proposed  reading  to  them  the  extracts 
'which  he  had  taken  ;  and  which  they  had  charged 
him  with  spreading. 

But  they  were  unwilling  to  hear  liim  read  these 
extracts,  and  conceded  there  might  possibly  be 
some  things  in  the  manner_of  his  expressions  that 


38 


NARRATIVE  AND 


would  be  deemed  exceptionable.  But  J.  W.  in- 
sisted on  reading  these  extracts,  in  order  that  the 
committee  might  know  how  unsound  his  doctrines 
were,,  (believing  that  his  defence  rested  upon 
their'  demerits,)  but  the  committee  appeared  ex- 
ceedingly unwilling  to  allow  the  reading  of  them, 
and  the  dilemma  in  which  they  were  now  placed, 
apparently  drew  from  D.  B.,  one  of  their  number, 
the  expression,  "  I  acknowledge  that  some  of  J.  J. . 
Gurney's  writings  are  very  unsound."  But  for 
this  imprudence,  D.  B.  was  immediately  jogged  by 
J.  M.,  one  of  his  colleagues  who  sat  near  him,  and 
'  who  dissented  from  his  concession,  by  saying, 
should  not  have  said  so." 

Finally  they  utterly  refused  to  hear  his  defence 
or  the  reading  of  the  extracts  from  Gurney's  doc- 
trines, and  gave  him  very  little  opportunity  of  any 
oral  vindication  of  himseif  in  relation  to  the  charges 
brought  against  him,  by  reason  of  their  own  claims^ 
upon  the  time ;  freely  and  in  close  succession  Be- 
stowing upon  him  their  censures,  and  demanding 
from  him  immediate  concessions,  accompanied  with 
the  advice  "  to  stay  at  home  and  to  be  quiet."  And 
so  this  interview  ended. 

Thus  being  denied  a  full,  a  fair  personal  hearing 
which  truth  and  justice  always  allows,  even  to  the 
greatest  offenders,  John  Wilbur  resorted  to  pen, 
ink  and  paper  ;  and  through  this  medium  addressed 
T.  A.,  the  first  named  of  the  committee,  with  whom 
he  had  heretofore  stood  in  the  relation  of  great  in- 
timacy ;  which  address  is  furth3r  on. 

To  this  letter,  both  himself  and  his  colleages  de- 
clined altogether  to  make  any  reply,  or  to  attempt 
a  refutation  in  writing ;  yet  they  did  not  fail  to  re- 
sort to  personal  declamation  and  high  sounding 
words  in  an  interview  which  they  called  for  in  the 
early  part  of   the    Yearly  Meeting    at  New-, 

O  port,  1840,  with  an  evident  design  to  alarm  him; 

--^  and  to  induce  him  to  condemn,  not  only  the  course 


EXPOSITION. 


39 


which  he  had  taken,  but  also  the  letter  which  he 
had  written  to  them.  And  because  he  hesitated, 
conscientiously  doing  so,  cast  upon  him  many  re- 
proaches, and  the  epithet  of  stubbornness,  and  a 
disposition  to  resist  his  friends  and  the  good  order 
of  society.  They  also  now  denied  the  intimation 
in  the  letter,  that  one  of  their  number  had  said  that, 
some  of  J.  J.  Gurney''s  doctrines  were  very  unsound. 
And  D.  B.  himself  denied  ever  saying  any  such 
thmg.  And  they  further  declared  that  no  one  would 
know  by  reading  the  letter,  any  thing  about  what 
transpired  at  their  meeting  at  Greenwich. 

At  a  second  interview,  during  the  same  Yearly 
Meeting,  they  read  to  him  a  paper,  which,  as  they 
said,  was  from  a  friend  who  felt  much  concern  for 
him ;  but  at  the  same  time  withheld  from  him  the 
name  of  the  writer,  as  well  as  the  document  itself ; 
proceedings  which  he  thought  reflected  no  great 
honor  upon  the  writer  or  the  presenters  thereof. 
But  its  contents  were  not  such  as  to  give  any  unea- 
siness to  him  whom  it  was  evidently  designed  to 
annoy. 

During  these  interviews,  in  which  the  committee 
evinced  much  excitement,  J.  W.  was  favored  to 
endure  their  reproaches  and  revilings  without  re- 
viling again ;  and  to  make  no  concession  or  com- 
promise of  principle. 

In  justice  to  one  of  the  committee,  Andrew 
Nichols,  (since  deceased)  a  fellow  member  with  J. 
W.,  of  the  same  Monthly  Meeting,  it  ought  to  be 
said,  that  he  was  a  minister  of  sound  principles  ; 
and  that  he  was  named  incidentally  on  the  commit- 
tee. He  was,  whilst  living,  of  singular  service  to 
J.  W.,  and  to  the  good  cause  which  he  was  con- 
cerned to  support.  He  saw  the  letter  in  question, 
read  and  approved  its  contents ;  and  of  its  being 
forwarded  to  the  committee,  previously  thereto. 

The  fourth  meeting  of  the  committee,  with  some 
additions  to  their  number,  was  held  at  Portsmouth, 


40 


NARRATIVE  AND 


R.  I.,  and  J.  W.  was  cited  again  to  meet  with  them, 
to  which  he  acceded. 

The  committee  now  attempted  reading  extracts 
from  his  letter  to  them,  against  which  they  were  in- 
tending to  join  issue  ;  but  he  objected  to  their  read- 
ing extracts  from  his  letter  without  first  reading  the 
whole  letter f  and  the  more,  because  a  number  of  the 
committee  now  present  had  never  became  acquaint- 
ed with  its  contents,  except  by  hearsay ;  and  be- 
cause also,  T.  A.,  one  of  their  number,  had  told  him 
that  he  had  placed  upon  it,  with  pen  and  ink,  the 
inscription  of  falsehood.  J.  Wilbur's  arguments  for 
either  readmg  the  w^hole  letter,  or  else  for  not 
reading  the  extracts  from  it,  though  strongly  op- 
posed by  some,  finally  prevailed. 

After  the  letter  was  read,  some  attempts  were 
made,  (though  feeble)  to  read  extracts  from  it,  in 
order  for  refutation,  but  in  this  course  they  pro- 
ceeded not  far ;  inasmuch  as  J.  W.  now  called  for 
their  objections  in  writing,  both  to  the  course  which 
he  had  taken  in  the  first  place,  and  to  the  letter  it- 
self, distinctly  and  severally  giving  their  reasons 
for  such  objections. 

This  seemed  to  throw  the  committee  into  con- 
siderable disorder ;  after  which  their  proceedings 
were  irregular  and  desultory.  At  one  time  they 
would  declaim  against  his  making  a  defence  against 
his  friends  ;  and  at  another  time  they  would  accuse 
him  of  having  taken  false  premises  in  his  letter : 
and  again  D.  B.  came  forward  in  a  denial  of  saying 
at  Greenwich,  "  that  some  of  J.  J.  G.'s  writings 
were  very  unsound,"  (Why  need  he,  for  the  saying 
was  very  true,)  and  attempted  to  change  the  ground, 
by  now  adopting  this  version  of  it,  to  wit,  "  For  ar- 
gument sake  I  will  admit  that  some  of  J.  J.  G.'s  writ- 
ings ai'e  very  unsound."  And  J.  M.,  the  one  who  jog- 
ged him  at  Greenwich,  and  remarked,  "  /  should 
not  have  said  so,"  now  responded  to  the  truth  of  D. 
B.'s  present  version  of  it,  and  said,  I  remember 


EXPOSITION. 


41 


these  were  D.'s  expressions.  Why  then,  asked „J. 
W.,  did  thou  jog  D.  at  Greenwich,  and  say,  "/ 
should  not  have  said  so  f  But  before  Ws  query, 
to  which  M.  made  no  reply,  several  of  the  com- 
mittee had  endorsed  his  present  statement  of  it. 

Finally,  as  Andrew  Nichols  had  said  nothing  to 
this  disputed  point,  they  called  on  him  to  testify  in 
regard  to  it :  and  though  a  diffident  man,  he  did 
say  to  David,  the  w^ords  which  thou  hast  now  pre- 
fixed, were  not  prefixed  at  Greenwich,  thy  words 
then  were,  "  I  acknow^ledge  that  some  of  the  doc- 
trines of  J.  J.  Tjurney  are  very  unsound."  And  so 
ended  this  part  of  the  discussion. 

After  having  been  together  near  four  hours,  they 
began  to  talk  of  what  course  should  be  taken,  inas- 
much as  the  object  of  their  meeting  had  not  been 
attained.  Tw^o  of  the  committee  proposed  to  burn 
the  papers  and  drop  the  subject  altogether;  but 
others  hesitated.  J.  Wilbur  had  complained  of  the 
injustice  and  severity  of  their  charges  thrown  out 
against  him — of  the  aspersion  of  falsehood  endors- 
ed upon  his  letter,  saying,  that  he  had  never,  in 
speaking  of  them,  or  of  J.  J.  Gurney,  made  use  of 
such  language.  In  answer  to  which  T.  A.  said, 
"  I  don't  think  that  John  Wilbur  meant  to  say  any 
thing  in  that  letter  which  was  untrue."  J.  W., 
after  resuming  his  request  to  be  furnished  with  their 
complaint  in  writing,  withdrew  in  order  to  remove 
all  embarrassment  from  their  deliberations. 

From  this  time  J.  W.  heard  nothing  of  the  in- 
tentions of  the  committee  until  the  holding  of  the 
select  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Sommerset,  in  the 
11th  month  following,  wherein  his  sufferings  were 
by  no  means  inconsiderable  in  consequence  of  their 
bringing  the  case  to  view  before  that  meeting ;  but 
silence  was  believed  to  be  his  lot  and  ground  of 
safety.  After  meeting,  he  was  called  upon  to  meet 
them  that  afternoon  at  3  o'clock ;  but  not  feeling 
ready  in  his  own  mind  therefor ;  and  having  other 


42 


NARRATIVE  AND 


good  reasons  therefor,  he  decHned  an  interview  on 
that  day,  but  informed  them  that  he  would  wait  on 
them  the  next  day,  or  at  any  future  time,  as  they 
would  best  like.  Accordingly  he  was  notified  the 
next  day,  after  Quarterly  Meeting,  to  meet  them  on 
the  following  morning  at  the  Boarding  School  at 
Providence,  to  which  he  agreed,  and  met  them 
there  accordingly  on  6th  day,  morning,  the  6th  of 
11th  month,  to  wit,  six  men  and  two  women.  And 
after  a  short  pause  R.  G.  rose  and  said,  that  pass- 
ing over  J.  W.'s  speaking  of  a  friend  travelling  in 
the  ministry  to  his  disadvantage,  they  would  pro- 
ceed to  read  such  passages  from  his  letter  as  were 
not  satisfactory  to  the  committee,  and  so  proceeded 
to  read  them.  To  which  objections  J.  W.  now  felt 
at  liberty  to  make  some  remarks  and  to  reply  some- 
what in  course ;  but  withal  again  claiming  the 
right  of  being  put  in  possession  of  their  objections 
on  paper. 

With  a  view  of  sustaining  their  charge  of  false- 
hood against  his  letter  they  had  taken  the  ground  at 
a  former  interview,  that  their  censure  of  him  was  not 
for  objecting  to  Jos.  J.  Gurney's  doctrines,  but  for 
speaking  against  J.  J.  Gurney  himself  But,  never- 
theless, their  first  and  prominent  charge  against  him 
at  the  first  interview,  was  that  he  had  "  spread  long 
lists  of  extracts  from  Jos.  J.  Gurney's  doctrines," 
It  is  true,  that  when  at  that  interview,  J.  W.  attempt- 
ed to  justify  his  having  done  so,  by  showing  the  un- 
soundness of  those  doctrines,  they  feigned  to  make 
shift,  in  order  to  avoid  the  exposure  of  them  even 
among  themselves,  to,  let  go  the  complaint,  which 
they  had  thus  emphatically  preferred  against  him, — 
and  attempting  to  discriminate  between  the  man  and, 
his  doctrines,  to  make  their  charge  against  him  for 


they  never  could,  nor  can  they  ever  substantiate, 
and  consequently  by  this  wily  contrivance  to  shift 
their  hold,  their  whole  fabric  falls  to  the  ground. 


objections  to  the  man  only. 


EXPOSITION. 


43 


Now,  at  this  meeting  at  Providence,  in  order  to 
bring  them  back  to  their  first  charge,  and  the  only 
one  as  is  believed  which  they  can  make  lie  against 
him ;  he  enquired  of  R.  G.,  who  in  opening  the  case 
'at  this  time,  spoke  "  of  passing  over  what  J.  W. 
had  said  against  a  friend  travelling  in  the  minis- 
try," as  above ;  J.  W.  enquired  of  them  whether 
they  were  now  disposed  to  relinquish  their  first 
charge  against  him  of  "  spreading  long  lists  of  ex- 
tracts from  that  friend's  doctrines,"  to  which 
several  of  them  responded.  No,  oh  no.  And  al- 
though J.  W.,  at  Newport,  did  not  feel  himself  at 
liberty,  even  to  clear  himself  from  many  of  their 
accusations;  yet  now  such  restraint  was  removed, 
and  his  mind  was  free,  and  opened  in  clearness, 
and  strength  was  given  to  speak  in  defence  of  the 
good  cause,  and  to  exculpate  himself  from  blame 
in  so  far  as  he  had  been  endeavoring  to  guard  it 
against  innovation. 

And  it  was  not  long  the  committee  pursued  read- 
ing extracts,  because  of  their  objections  being  so 
fully  answered,  choosing  rather  to  object  to  the  let- 
ter in  a  more  summary  way  ;  and  alleged  that  J. 
W.  had,  by  that  letter,  "  implied  that  the  commit- 
tee were  unsound  as  to  their  religious  sentiments." 
To  this  he  repUed,  "  that  no  body  of  people,  or  in- 
dividuals, had  any  occasion  to  fear  that  a  charge 
of  unsoundness  could  be  made  to  lie  against  them, 
if  they  had  not  accused  or  identified  themselves 
therein  by  things  which  they  had  said  or  done — 
that  if  this  committee  would  come  forward  and  now 
disavow  and  condemn  the  unsound  doctrines  of  J. 
J.  Gurney,  as  himself  ha,d  done,  there  was  no  one 
who  would  attempt  to  implicate  them  therewith : 
and  "  he  earnestly  and  affectionately  entreated  them 
to  do  so  for  the  clearing  of  themselves  from  all  im- 
putation." 

This  proposition  and  entreaty  brought  much 
solemnity  over  the  company,  and  silence  prevailed 


44 


NARRATIVE  AND 


until  he  found  it  right  to  speak  further,  and  to  tell 
them,  that  they  had  found  much  fault  with  him  in 
relation  to  expressions  in  the  letter,  and  that  him- 
self had  susceptible  feelings  as  well  as  they,  and  if 
they  would  give  him  leave,  he  would  remind  them 
of  a  few  expressions  and  movements  of  their  own 
which  had  been  afflictive  to  him,  and  then  paused 
for  liberty  to  proceed.  After  standing  for  some 
time,  he  subjoined,  if  friends  are  unwilHng  to  be 
thus  reminded,  I  will  take  my  seat ;  but  soon  rose 
again,  and  revived  the  saying  that  silence  gives  con- 
sent, and  then  proceeded  to  tell  them  that  because 
he  conscientiously  hesitated  to  condemn  his  letter  at 
Newport,  that  they  "  charged  him  with  stubbornness  ; 
and  also,  divers  times,  said  "  that  no  one  could  tell 
by  his  letter  any  thing  about  what  transpired  at  the 
first  interview,"  [making  the  whole  document  a 
fabrication.]  And  further,  at  Portsmouth,  had 
"  pronounced  the  premises  therein  taken  to  be  /al§e, 
and  the  conclusions  therefore  to  be  false  and  un- 
sound," and  had  inscribed  this  upon  the  letter. 
And  In  the  select  Quarterly  Meeting  but  a  day  or 
two  previous,  had  opened  the  subject  in  a  manner 
altogether  uncalled  for  and  unnecessary,  unless  it 
was  needful  to  reproach  him  in  that  open  manner. 
Silence  again  reigned,  until  he  again  proceeded,  the 
committee  also  required  of  him  to  hear  them  read 
to  him  an  anonymous  letter,  reflecting  unfairly  upon 
his  proceedings,  and  which  letter  or  paper  was 
withheld  from  his  possession.  An  act  which  he 
thought  the  most  extraordinary  that  he  had  ever 
known  to  be  practiced  by  those  called  friends. 

Not  the  least  reply  was  made  to  this  exposure  of 
their  injustice. 

It  was  now  very  observable  that  the  committee 
(for  the  present)  were  somewhat  softened  and 
moderated  ;  and  consented  that  J.  W.  should  be 
furnished  with  their  objections  to  his  letter  on  pa- 
per, or  with  a  copy  of  his  letter  with  their  objec- 


EXPOSITION. 


45 


tions  designated  in  the  margin.  And  agreed  that 
T.  A.,  who  was  not  present,  should,  if  he  was  wil- 
ling, furnish  him  with  them  in  the  one  form  or  the 
other.  But  still  before  we  parted,  they  so  far  re- 
covered their  former  feelings,  that  they,  or  indi- 
viduals of  them,  were  disposed  to  annoy  him  with 
questions,  if  not  to  entrap  him,  in  an  unprovoked 
manner,  a  process,  in  such  a  case,  as  dishonorable 
as  it  is  unchristian.  But  the  result  was,  that  the 
answer  to  every  question  they  asked,  as  well  as  to 
every  accusation  they  made,  tended  to  their  own 
disappointment. 

On  the  28th  of  12th  month  following,  came  R. 
G.  and  T.  A.  of  the  Select  Quarterly  Meeting  Com- 
mittee to  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meetings,  and  at 
the  close  thereof,  called  together  the  ministers  and 
elders ;  and  when  convened,  R.  G.  stated  to  them, 
that  a  misunderstanding  existed  between  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committee  and  John  Wilbur,  a  mem- 
ber of  this  meeting,  on  account  of  a  letter  which  he 
wrote  to  them,  and  which  letter  was  very  dissatis- 
factory, and  apprehended  that  the  members  of  this 
select  meeting  had  been  misinformed,  and  therefore 
had  not  a  correct  knowledge  of  the  case.  That 
they  of  the  committee  had  now  called  the  members 
together  in  order  to  give  them  a  right  understand- 
ing of  it.  To  this  T.  A.  subjoined,  that  the  letter 
alluded  to,  contained  things  that  loere  untrue,  and  | 
again  repeated  it,  contained  things  that  icere  not  \ 
true.  And  then  proposed  reading  extracts  from 
the  said  letter,  for  the  information  of  the  meeting. 
But  J.  W.  proposed  the  reading  of  the  whole  letter, 
because  divers  of  the  members  had  never  seen  it, 
and  because  there  was  a  chain  of  connection 
throughout,  showing  a  relation  of  one  part  with 
another.  And,  however,  the  reading  of  the  whole 
letter  was  strongly  opposed  by  these  two  commit- 
tee men,  yet  the  proposition  for  reading  the  whole 
prevailed,  and  the  letter  was  deliberately  read. 


46 


NARRATIVE  AND 


And  now  the  Committee,  instead  of  offering  their 
extracts,  and  instead  of  going  about  to  prove  their 
assertions  of  falsehood,  v^hich  they  had  said  it  con- 
tained, proposed,  and  as  they  said,  in  order  to  put 
an  end  to  the  controversy,  to  destroy  the  letter,  with 
the  copy  retained  by  the  w^riter.  And  at  the  same 
time  stoutly  affirmed,  and  repeated  it  again  and 
again,  that  the  letter  v^as  altogether  inapplicable  to 
what  they  said  to  him  at  Greenwich,  that  he,  the 
writer,  had  made  his  own  premises  and  drawn  his 
own  conclusions,  &c.  Wherefore  J.  W.  desired 
them  to  put  a  finger  on  one  of  his  seven  references 
to  their  charges  at  Greenwich,  and  to  refute  it. 
This  he  pressed  them  earnestly  several  times  to 
do.  But  instead  of  doing  it  they  boldly  affirmed 
that  they  never  made  any  charge  against  him  thejig, 
that  they  only  made  some  friendly  enquiries  of 
him,  and  thus  evaded  an  examination  of  the  pre- 
mises so  distinctly  grounded  upon  their  own 
charge.  They  had,  in  this  meeting,  made  both  a 
formal  and  formidable  complaint  of  something 
which  he  had  said  or  done,  and  he  now  earnestly 
called  upon  them  to  show  what  it  w^as,  that  thereby 
it  might  be  seen  what  it  was  not,  alleging  that  in 
the  civil  department,  a  man  was  never  so  much  as 
brought  to  trial  for  defaming  others,  without  pro- 
pounding the  words  charged  upon  him,  and  much 
less  subjected,  without  proving  them. 

But  they  now  declined  altogether  an  examination 
of  those  items  in  the  letter  which  refers  to  their 
charges  against  him,  which  charges  were  the  whole 
occasion  and  ground  work  of  the  letter. 

And  again,  inasmuch  as  they  had  inscribed  upon 
the  letter  this  condemnatory  sentence,  viz :  that 
^  "  the  premises  therein  taken  were  false,  and  conse- 
quently that  the  conclusions  were  false  and  un- 
sound" which  inscription  had  been  read  in  this  meet- 
ing ;  and  they  had  also  declared  at  the  same  time, 
without  reserve,  that  "  the  letter  contained  things 


EXPOSITION. 


47 


which  were  not  true ;"  he  now  called  upon  them  to 
make  good  those  high  charges. 

So  that,  finally,  after  being  thus  closely  pressed 
to  do  the  thing  which  they  at  first  professed  to  have_ 
come  for,  they  referred  to  the  passage  relating  to 
their  "  endeavors  to  put  down  those  who  honestly 
withstand  J.  J.  Gurney's  sentiments,"  and  said,  ) 
"  those  expressions  which  they  understood  to  have  S 
been  applied  to  the  committee,  were  untrue." 

J.  W.  now  reminded  them  of  what  one  of  them, 
(R.  G.)  said  to  him  whilst  at  Greenwich,  viz  :— 
"  Thou  knew  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
were  not  willing  that  thou  should  travel  in  the  minis- 
try, and  therefore  thou  ought  not  to  have  gone  to 
Philadelphia,"  and  subjoined,  "  and  my  advice  to 
thee  is  to  stay  at  home  and  be  quiet."  To  which  ad- 
vice every  one  of  the  committee  then  present,  ex- 
cept A.  N.,  responded.  Knowing  that  these  were 
their  own  words,  they  appeared  to  feel  the  weight 
of  their  defeat. 

It  was  observed  by  one  of  the  members  of  South 
Kingston  Select  Meeting,  and  seen  by  every  one 
present,  that  the  truth  of  the  passage  referred  to 
was  sustained.     To  this  observation  they  of  the 


asked  them  for  other  objections,  if  any  they  had, 
tending  to  prove  their  charge,  but  without  effect — 
they  wholly  declined  challenging  any  other  item 
in  the  whole  letter,  though  once  and  again  called 
onto  do  so. 

Hence  the  writer  of  it  is  fully  justified  in  assuming 
the  ground  that  the  letter  contains  no  tangible  evi- 
dence which  goes  to  sustain  their  high  charges. 

And  inasmuch  as  the  committee  had  pressingly 
proposed  the  burning  of  the  letter,  and  had  given  the 
assurance  that  such  measure  would  put  an  end  to 
the  whole  controversy,  one  or  two  members  of  the 
meeting,  seeing  the  utter  failure  of  the  committee, 
and,  as  it  may  be,  feeling  a  little  for  them,  and  great- 


committee 


And  then  again  J.  W. 


48 


NARRATION  AND 


ly  desiring  the  restoration  of  peace  among  us,  pro- 
posed to  John  Wilbur  that  he  consent  to  the  con- 
suming of  the  papers  that  related  to  this  unhappy 
controversy ;  being  also  unduly  credulous  as  to  the 
assurance  given,  that  this  measure  would  accom- 
plish its  termination, — not  seeing  the  consequences 
that  would  most  likely  follow  it ;  for  should  this 
letter  become  extinct,  and  therefore  could  no  longer 
bear  witness  for  itself,  false  charges  might  be 
brought  against  it,  in  which  case  the  writer  would 
be  left  in  a  very  unpleasant  predicament,  on  ac- 
count of  the  difficulty  of  proving  a  negative  without 
a  record.  Moreover,  another  good  reason  why 
the  letter  ought  not  to  be  burnt  is,  because  the 
charge  falsehood  was  written  and  remained  upon 
it,  and  because  the  writer  of  it  was  now  charged  in 
a  meeting  of  ministers  and  elders,  with  writing 
things  therein  that  are  untrue.  Consequently,  for 
him  to  consent  to  the  destruction  of  the  papers,  un- 
til those  slanderous  charges  are  removed  and  re- 
tracted, it  might,  and  not  very  unfairly,  be  constru- 
ed as  an  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  writer 
that  those  accusations  of  falsehood  were  correct. 
Hence  he  saw  it  much  safer  to  preserve  a  correct 
copy  of  the  letter,  and  resolved  to  do  so. 

The  great  efforts  and  unhallowed  means  resorted 
to  heretofore  by  the  committee,  to  calumniate  J. 
W.,  and  to  prevent  his  having  an  opportunity  to 
vindicate  his  cause,  induced  him  to  suspect  their 
integrity  in  a  professed  desire  and  assurance  of  a 
settlement  through  the  destruction  of  this  letter. 

And  this  suspicion  has  been  since  abundantly 
confirmed  by  the  acknowledgment  of  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Select  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee. — 
The  one  who  first  cited  J.  W.  before  them,  having 
said  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  "  The  burning  of  that 
letter  would,  I  conceive,  have  done  little  if  any 
thing  at  all,  towards  settling  the  difficulty." 

On  parting,  he  called  on  T.  A.  to  take  from  tha.t 


EXPOSITION. 


49 


letter  his  charge  of  falsehood,  which  he  had  placed 
upon  it,  inasmuch  as  the  writer  had  now  been  able 
to  substantiate  the  truth  of  every  line.,  of  it:  to 
w^hLich  T.  A.  answered,  as  Leing  disposed  to  alter 
it,  if  that  would  produce  a  settlement.  [If  that  would 
procure  its  destruction?] 

But  the  writer  was  soon  after  informed  by  a 
message  from  A.  N.  that  the  said  T.  A.  said  to  him, 
that  himself  placed  that  endorsement  on  J.  W.'s 
letter,  therefore  he  had  a  right  to  take  it  off ;  and 
he  would  take  it  off ;  to  which  message  J.  W.  made 
this  reply,  that  time  would  determine,  whether  that 
promise  were  fulfilled  or  not. 

At  the  close  of  this  interview,  J.  W.  asked  T.  A. 
for  the  extracts  which  they  at  first  proposed  to 
read  in  that  meeting,  but  he  declined  giving  them, 
but  handed  him  a  copy  of  the  letter  with  some  pen- 
cil marks  in  the  margin. 

At  our  Select  Quarterly  iMeeting  at  Providence, 
2nd  month,  3d,  1841,  the  committee  presented  a 
report  setting  forth,  as  near  as  can  be  remembered, 
(for  J.  W.  has  been  denied  a  copy)  that  "  a  mem- 
ber of  this  meeting  having  spread  reports  to  the 
injury  of  the  order  of  society,  was  labored  with  on 
that  account  by  your  committee,  whereupon  the 
said  member  wrote  a  letter  to  them  containing 
things  that  were  unjust &;c. 

This  report  produced  considerable  expression, 
mingled  with  censure  and  exhortation,  pointedly  to 
the  individual,  with  professions  of  sympathy  for 
and  travail  with  the  committee.  And  it  was  con- 
cluded that  the  subject  should  remain  with  the  same 
committee.  It  was  perceived  by  J.  W.,  that  the 
committee  at  large,  w^as  resolved  to  disregard  and 
overlook  the  proceedings  of  those  two  of  their 
number  at  South  Kingston,  he  rose,  on  behalf  of 
the  person  alluded  to  in  that  report:  requested  that 
the  meeting  would  either  take  up  the  subject  itself 
and  allow  that  individual  a  fair  opportunitv  of 
3 


50 


NARRATIVE  AND 


making  his  innocency  appear,  or  otherwise  instruct 
their  committee  to  do  so;  stating  that  some  of  their 
number  had  convened  the  select  meeting,  of  which 
he  was  a  member,  and  there  openly  in  the  meeting 
brought  complaints  against  him  of  a  more  aggrava- 
ted nature  than  those  stated  in  this  report,  but 
which  complaints  they  were  not  able  to  sustain, 
and  which  failure  he  believed  was  obvious  to  every 
member  of  that  meeting,  that  he  had  been  suing 
for  six  months  past  for  distinct  objections  to  the 
course  which  he  had  taken  ;  and  as  he  thought  ob- 
tained a  promise  three  months  before  to  furnish  him 
with  those  objections.  But  that  promise  had  not  yet 
been  redeemed ;  and  referred  to  the  trial  of  W. 
Penn  and  W.  Mead,  in  London,  to  whom  a  full  and 
fair  hearing  was  promised,  but  which  promise  was 
not  fulfilled.  And  the  court  seemed  disposed  to 
condemiU  them  upon  the  reports  abroad  and  the  pre- 
judice against  them.  By  which  reference  J.  W. 
suggested  whether  the  reports  abroad  tending  to 
produce  unfavorable  feelings  towards  the  person  al- 
luded to  in  the  report,  had  not  influenced  the  minds 
of  some  of  his  friends  against  him. 

The  committee  now  seemed  to  be  brought  to  a 
stand  what  to  say  to  this  statement,  but  one  or  two 
of  them  did  say  that  much  opportunity  had  been  al- 
lowed him  ;  and  referred  to  the  time  of  one  sittings 
which  they  said  continued  for  five  hours  in  discus- 
sion of  the  case.  But  he  reminded  them,  and  in- 
formed the  meeting,  that  his  solicitation,  through 
that  meeting  were  the  same  as  now,  to  give  him  a 
plain  statement,  on  paper,  of  their  ground  of  unea- 
siness, and  thus  the  subject  was  left.  But  before 
leaving  Providence,  J.  W.  asked  T.  A.  (the  one  who 
furnished  him  with  the  copy  of  the  letter,)  whether 
those  pencil  marks  on  the  margin  were  intended  to 
designate  their  objections  ?  and  to  which  he  replied 
that  "  he  did  not  know^" 


ICXPOSITION. 


51 


John  Wilbur  received  from  one  of  the  same  com- 
mittee a  previous  notice  to  meet  them  at  Greenwich 
on  the  4th  of  5th  month,  1841,  the  day  before  the 
Select  Quarterly  Meeting  there.  He  went  accord- 
ingly, and  met  with  nine  friends  of  the  before-men- 
tioned committee,  and  six  of  the  standing  committee 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting.  And  after  a  time  of  silence 
one  of  the  former  said,  that  inasmuch  as  J.  W.  had 
expressed  a  desire  for  an  opportunity  to  make  his 
defence,  the  committee  had  now  met  to  give  him 
that  opportunity. 

He  now  waited  some  time  for  their  complaint  to 
be  brought  forward ;  but  not  being  presented,  he 
mentioned  that  he  had  been  waiting  in  expectation, 
that  a  complaint,  if  any  they  had  against  him, 
would  be  presented  :  and  that  nothing  to  that  effect 
had  been  given  him — that  although  there  were  pen- 
cil marks  on  the  copy  of  his  letter  handed  him  by 
T.  A.,  yet  T.  A.  said  he  did  not  know  whether  those 
pencil  marks  coveredlhe  committee's  objections  or 
not ;  and  that  therefore  he  was  not  prepared  to  re- 
spond to  their  complaint,  having  received  no  other 
designation  in  writing  of  their  uneasiness.  But  J. 
M.  said  that  "  John  Wilbur,  having  received  that 
marked  copy  from  the  hands  of  the  committee,  he 
might  have  known  that  it  contained  their  objections." 
But  as  one  of  their  own  number  had  spoken  doubtful- 
ly in  relation  to  it,  J.  W.  was  not  now  prepared  to 
meet  those  objections  specifically.  But  the  commit- 
tee decided  on  going  into  the  consideration  of  the 
case  at  this  time.  Whereupon  he  requested  that 
they  would  allow  him  the  rightful  privilege  of  one  of 
two  things,  viz  :  that  they  would  either  give  him 
their  objections  in  writing,  and  time  to  canvass  them; 
or  that  they  would  constitute  an  individual  of  their 
number  as  their  organ  to  speak  on  their  behalf,  inti- 
mating that  for  one  individual  to  be  laid  under  the 
necessity  of  replying  to  the  objections  and  allega- 
tions of  so  many,  might  tend  to  an  unreasonable  em- 


52 


NABRATIVE  AND 


barrassment — these  requests  were  both  denied.  The 

Quarterly  Meeting's  committee  plead  that  he  had 
been  furnished  as  above,  and  that  their  objections 
were  marked  upon  that  copy,  and  that  he  might 
have  known  that  it  defined  their  objections,  &c. 

It  was  now  proposed,  as  he  thinks,  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting  committee,  that  the  letter  should  be  read, 
and  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  committee  should 
discuss  the  objectionable  passages  as  the  reading 
went  on.  To  this  proposal  J.  W.  objected,  for  the 
reason  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's  committee,  (who 
w^ere  presumed  not  to  have  seen  it,)  could  not  in 
that  way  so  well  comprehend  it  as  a  whole.  And 
so  the  whole  letter  was  read  without  any  interrup- 
tion. And  quite  a  solemnity  prevailed  throughout, 
and  for  some  time  after :  inasmuch  that  it  did  al- 
most seem  doubtful  whether  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's committee  would  make  any  objections,  nor  did 
they  do  so  until  the  Yearly  Meeting's  committee 
encouraged  them  to  bring  them  forward,  saying 
that  it  contained  the  insinuation  that  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  committee  were  unsound,  &c.  Finally 
they  attempted,  but  in  so  feeble  a  manner,  and  so 
indefinite,  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's  committee 
proffered  their  help,  (though  brought  here  profess- 
edly to  judge  in  a  case  of  uneasiness  between  the 
Quarterly  Meeting's  committee  and  J.  W.,)  in  point- 
ing out  a  paragraph  or  two  which  they  said  by  a 
reasonable  construction,  appeared  to  them  to  bear 
upon  the  doctrinal  views  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
committee. 

But  to  this  J.  W.  said,  as  he  had  heretofore  said, 
that  it  was  not  his  intention  to  charge  the  committee 
with  unsoundness ;  and  if  it  w^ould  give  the  com- 
mittee any  satisfaction  he  was  still  prepared  so  to 
say,  [by  way  of  explanation]  and  as  they  had  asked 
the  question,  he  would  say,  that  he  was  as  willing  to 
say  it  in  writing  as  verbally,  as  it  could  not  then  be 
misconstrued. 


EXPOSITIOX. 


53 


These  committees  held  three  meetings  at  this  time 
at  Greenwich.  And  it  was  at  the  first  that  they 
gave  occasion  to  J.  W.  to  mention  the  substance  of 
the  interview  of  two  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  com- 
mittee with  the  ministers  and  elders  al  South  Kings- 
ton, and  he  was  astonished  to  hear  them  disclaim 
having  any  remembrance  of  what  he  related  ;  and  in 
the  sequel  they  denied  it !  although  proveable  by 
every  member  of  that  meeting. 

During  this  sitting  W.  J.  accused  J.  W.  of  setting 
himself  up  against  the  Yearly  Meetings  of  London 
and  Xew  England  ;  and  said  that  J.  J.  Gurney's  cer- 
tificate from  London  pronoimced  him  to  he  sound  in 
doctrine,  and  that  his  returning  certificate  from  New 
England  Yearly  Meeting  also  said  that  he  was 
sound  in  doctrine ;  but  on  being  disputed  as  to  the 
latter,  said  it  was  to  that  amount.  And  as  to  the 
former,  viz  :  whether  his  certificate  of  liberation 
pronounced  liim  sound  in  doctrine,  the  clerk  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting,  now  present,  was  asked  to  inform 
the  committee  of  the  correctness  of  that  assertion, 
who  said  he  did  not  remember  !  But  there  was  one 
present,  who  did  know  that  assertion  to  be  without 
foundation  ;  and  W.  J.  was  informed  of  his  error  in 
both  cases. 

D.  B.  now  said,  (though  uncalled  for)  "  that  he  had 
never  read  any  thing  in  J.  J.  Gurney's  writings, 
which  he  considered  unsound,"  (probably  to  redeem 
what  he  had  at  first  said  against  them.)  And  at  the 
close  of  the  sittmg,  whilst  many  members  were  yet 
present,  A.  S.,  jr.,  said  that  he  believed  that  J.  J. 
Gurney's  doctrines,  when  compared  one  with 
another,  would  very  nearly,  if  not  entirely,  comport 
with  the  doctrines  of  our  early  friends.  To  which 
W.  J.  and  one  or  two  more  responded,  and  no  ob- 
jection to  either  of  these  affirmations  was  express- 
ed by  any  one  of  the  committees  then  present.* 


*  Here  then,  we  find  those  committees  voluntarily  identifying 
themselves  in  the  doctrines  of  J.  J.  Gumey.    And  J.  W.  thiiokf. 


54 


NARRATIVE  AND 


After  the  close  of  this  sitting,  A.  S.,  jr.,  put  into 
the  hands  of  J.  W.  a  sheet  of  paper,  folded  in  form 
of  a  letter,  but  not  sealed,  and  offered  it  for  his  con- 
sideration. J.  W.  enquired  who  the  author  was,  but 
did  not  obtain  the  name.  He  then  enquired  if  the 
document  was  to  be  his  property  ?  The  answer 
was.  No,  I  expect  to  have  it  returned  to  me  in  the 
morning  ;  and  by  this  time  A.  S.  was  retiring,  and 
so  J.  W.  just  put  the  paper  into  his  outer  pocket,  and 
returned  it  to  the  same  person  next  day  without  un- 
folding it,  or  of  seeing  one  word  of  its  contents,  and 
with  it  this  information,  that  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  to  read  no  more  anonymous  letters,  and  es- 
pecially if  not  to  be  his  property,  and  therefore  had 
not  unfolded  it ;  and  desired  to  be  excused.  And 
then  referred  to  such  an  one  read  to  him  at  Newport 
by  the  committee,  and  further  said,  if  any  one  has 
not  enough  of  religious  concern  to  venture  his  name, 
he  may  as  well  withhold  his  writing  ;  and  moreover 
said  to  A.  S.,  that  he  was  willing  to  receive  a  letter 
from  his  hands  at  any  time,  and  would  pay  due  at- 
tention to  it. 

On  4th  day,  morning,  J.  W.  met  again  with 
the  committee,  and  in  a  recurrence  to  the  great 
question  of  doctrines,  as  treated  of  the  preceding 
evening,  he  told  them  that  his  fears  had  not  diminish- 
ed by  reason  of  what  passed  yesterday  ;  that  one  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  Committee  had  said  that  he 
had  never  read  any  thing  in  J.  J.  Gurney's  writings 
which  he  thought  unsound.  And  that  one  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting^s  Committees  had  also  said,  that  he 
believed,  if  we  were  to  compare  one  thing  with 
another,  that  we  should  find  J.  J.  Gurney's  doctrines 
to  be  nearly,  if  not  entirely  conformable  to  the  doc- 
trines of  our  early  friends ;  and  that  one  or  two  more 


no  possible  construction  can  be  placed,  and  made  to  hold  upon  any 
part  of  the  letter  in  question,  implicating  them,  or  as  implying  that 
they  had  implicated  themselves  in  any  sentiments  more  unsound 
th&n  those  of  J.  J.  G. 


EXPOSITION. 


53 


responded  to  that  sentiment.  But  no  reply  to  these 
remarks  is  recollected  to  have  been  made.  Subse- 
quently, and  after  some  conversation  not  recollected,  • 
R.  G.  spoke  at  considerable  length,  in  commendation 
of  J.  J.  Gurney,  bestowing  high  encomiums  and  much 
praise  upon  him  and  his  services  in  this  country. 
Soon  alter,  they  asked  J.  W.  if  he  were  willing  to 
commit  to  writing  his  expressions,  that  he  had  no  in- 
tention of  charging  the  committee  with  unsound- 
ness ?  to  which  he  answered  in  the  affirmative,  in- 
asmuch as  he  had  quite  a  choice  that  such  explana- 
tion, if  made  at  all,  should  be  in  writing  ;  and  pro- 
posed, if  A.  S.  had  a  pencil,  that  he  should  sketch  it 
out,  [meaning  then  while  we  were  sitting.]  But, 
contrary  to  his  expectation,  the  committee  proposed 
to  rise,  and  did  so.  After  the  sitting  of  the  select 
Quarterly  Meeting,  he  was  requested  to  meet  the 
committee  again  next  morning  at  9  o'clock. 

On  5th  day,  morning,  when  assembled,  A.  S. 
read  a  paper,  not  only  embracing  the  explanation 
agreed  to,  but  a  condemnation  of  expressions  con- 
tained in  his  letter,  and  so  shaped  as  J.  W.  thought 
that  they  could  apply  it  to  any  part  of  the  letter  they 
might  choose,  and  thereby,  if  they  pleased,  make  him 
to  retract  the  whole  letter,  and  the  whole  ground 
which  he  had  taken  against  the  doctrines  of  J.  J. 
Gurney,  as  well  as  his  objection  to  the  proceedings 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee ;  hence,  of 
course,  he  refused  to  sign  it,  but  asked  them  to  what 
expressions  in  the  letter  they  alluded  ?  A.  S.,  the 
writer  of  the  paper,  first  referred  to  J.  W.'s  saying 
that  D.  B.  "  acknowledged  that  some  of  J.  J.  Gur- 
ney's  writings  were  very  unsound,'*  when  D.  B. 
arose  and  denied  making  such  expressions.  But  J. 
'W:  now  related  the  conversation  that  led  to  it,  and 
mentioned  J.  M.'s  expressions  of  dissatisfaction  with 
it  at  the  time,  when  he,  J.  M.  repeated,  to  wit,_"/ 
should  not  have  said  so,"  and  then  called  on  Andrew 
Nichols  (who  had  not  arrived  until  this  morning)  to 
state  his  understanding  of  what  D.  B.  said  at  the  time 


56 


NARRATIVE  AND 


alluded  to.  And  he,  although  backward  about  tes- 
tifying, gave  it  verbatim  as  the  letter  stated ;  and 
immediately  that  subject  was  dropped. 
'  A.  S.  then  referred  to  the  passage  in  the  letter 
w^hich  says,  "  When  you  say  that  I  have  spoken 
against  the  doctrines  of  J.  J.  G.,  &c.,"and  said,  "that 
the  committee  alleged  that  J.  W.  had  attributed  ex- 
pressions to  them  which  they  had  not  made  use  of," 
a  matter  in  which  it  seems  that  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing Committee  and  J.  W.  are  at  issue. 

He  nov/  plainly  stated  to  them,  that  at  the  first 
interview,  (and  previously  to  his  proposing  to  read 
extracts,)  they  did,  and  with  some  severity ,  "  cen- 
sure him  for  spreading  extracts  from  the  doctrines 
of  J.  J.  Gurne}^"  but  that  on  his  producing  those 
extracts,  and  proposingTo  read  them,  for  their  infor- 
mation, as  to  the  extent  of  their  unsoundness,  there- 
by to  evince  the  propriety  of  his  showing  those 
extracts ;  then  it  was  that  they  came  round  and 
said  that  the  unsoundness  of  the  doctrines  of  J.  J. 
G.  had  nothing  to  do  with  (J.  W.'s)  defence. 

But  even  now,  (continued  he)  suppose  we  were 
to  waive  this  impassable  ground,  and  mark  the  re- 
straints which  the  select  Quarterly  Meeting  Com- 
mittee essayed  to  lay  upon  him  at  that  time,  and 
enquire  for  what  cause  ?  Let  the  answer  be  in 
their  own  language  for  his  having  spoken  against 
J.  J.  Gurney. 

This  was  effectually,  and  to  every  intent  and  pur- 
pose, making  him,  so  far  as  such  could  make  him, 
an  offender,  for  speaking  against  the  doctrines  of  J. 
J.  Gurney,  and  not  otherwise,  because  it  was  his 
doctrinal  characteristics  only  that  were  implied  in 
these  animadversions. 

And  if  the  committee  can  separate  the  doctrines 
from  the  man,  so  he,  as  well,  can  separate  the  man 
from  his  doctrines. 

In  the  next  place,  A.  S.  spoke  at  some  length  in 
denunciation  of  the  course  which  J.  W.  had  taken, 
and  much  in  the  same  strain  as  did  the  Quarterly 


EXPOSITION. 


57 


Meeting's  Committee,  in  the  first  place  at  Green- 
wich, affirming  it  to  have  been  a  breach  of  order, 
&c.  The  speaker  appeared  to  understand  how  to 
foreclose  a  reply,  by  immediately  proposing  an  ad- 
journment on  taking  his  seat,  viz :  to  meet  again 
on  first  day  evening,  at  the  time  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting  at  Newport,  which  was  agreed  to. 

At  Newport,  1st  day  evening,  the  13th  of  6th 
\C/  month,  1841,  the  committee  again  met;  J.  W. 
«^  being  present,  let  them  know  that  he  had  responded 
to,  or  rather  vindicated  the  passages  marked  on 
their  copy  of  his  letter  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee — and  now  desired  to  be  furnished  with 
their  objections  in  writing  in  relation  to  the  stand 
which  he  had  made  against  the  writings  of  J.  J.  G. 

They  now  denied  having  said  at  their  last  meet- 
ing, that  the  marked  passages  included  the  commit- 
tee's objections,  and  J.  M.,  the  very  man  who  then 
sHid  that  "  J.  W.  might  have  known  that  the  mark- 
ed passages,  coming  from  the^  committee,  did  in- 
clude their  objections  to  tlie  letter,"  now  said,  that 
it  was  himself,  unauthorized  by  the  committee,  who 
marked  those  passages,  and  that  they  did  not  in- 
clude all  the  committee's  objections  to  that  letter, 
and  to  the  last  assertion,  to  wit,  that  they  did  not  in- 
clude all  their  objections,  several  others  responded. 

Then,  after  reminding  them  of  the  promise  in  the 
11th  month,  to  furnish  him  with  their  objections, 
and  of  their  assumption  in  the  5th  month,  that  they 
had  done  so,  as  related  to  the  letter,  he  called  upon 
the  committee,  most  seriously  to  furnish  him  with  a 
plain  account  of  their  dissatisfaction  with  him  on 
paper,  in  a  manner  which  could  no  more  be  chang- 
ed, averring  that  the  allegations  and  complaints 
against  him  had  been  several  times  changed  !  But 
they  said  he  knew  enough  already  of  their  dissatis- 
faction, and  utterly  refused  to  give  him  a  written 
recital  of  their  uneasiness. 

Howbeit,  he  told  them,  that  such  was  not  only  his 
3* 


58 


NARRATIVE  AND 


right,  but  altogether  reasonable,  [they  had  once 
promised  to  give  him  their  objections  on  paper,  and 
essayed  to  do  it ;  and  afterwards  did  not  know^  as 
they  had,  and  subsequently  assured  him  that  they 
had,  and  now  again  they  assure  him  that  they  have 
not ! !] 

Wherefore  he  now  told  them  that  if  they  persist- 
ed in  a  refusal,  there  would  be  no  use  in  his  meet- 
ing them  any  more. 

Much,  however,  was  said  by  this  commit- 
tee,* (which  now  amounted  to  about  thirty  per- 
sons together,  at  this  time,)  and  endeavors  were 
not  wanting  to  place  him  in  a  fearful  and  alarm- 
ing position.  And  they  ultimately  resorted  in 
turn  to  persuasion,  exhortation  and  denunciation, 
in  order  to  obtain  concessions  from  him.  And 
at  one  time,  repeatedly  said,  that  it  was  but  a 
little  they  would  require  of  him  to  say.  And  at 
another  time,  proclaimed  him  to  be  in  a  dangerous 
position  ;  and  again  they  told  him,  that  he  was  in  a 
dark,  hard  state  of  mind !  And  after  laboring  in 
this  way  for  some  time,  they  concluded  that  a  small- 
er number  would  be  better,  to  labor  in  a  more  pri- 
vate way,  and  so  appointed  about  half  a  dozen  out 
of  the  number  for  the  purpose,  and  adjourned  till  3rd 
day,  evening.  This  sub-committee  requested  him 
to  meet  them  next  morning  at  7  o'clock,  which  he 
did.  But  during  the  recess,  and  on  much  delibera- 
tion, he  became  more  and  more  confirmed  in  the 
belief,  that  he  could  not  safely,  in  any  manner  what- 
ever, retract  the  course  which  he  had  taken.  In 
which  conclusion  he  had  the  unity  as  well  as  the 
sympathy  of  his  friends. 

When  this  sub-committee  met,  he  told  them  that 
he  had  but  very  little  to  say,  that  his  mind  had  been 


*  The  Select  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  had  now,  as  they 
said,  resigned  their  authority  to  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
of  which  they  were  all  members  save  two,  and  by  this  manoeuvre 
Andrew  Nichols  was  excluded. 


EXPOSITION. 


59 


deliberately  made  up,  that  he  could  make  no  con- 
cessions, and  therefore  was  disposed  to  withdraw ; 
that  the  committee  could  take  such  course  as  they 
thought  proper.  But  they  seemed  very  unwilling 
he  should  go  out,  and  proposed  that  he  read  his  de- 
fence to  such  objections  as  he  had  already  received 
from  the  committee,  but  he  said  there  would  be  no 
use  in  answering  to  a  part  of  an  indictment,  before 
it  was  finished,  or  the  whole  brought  into  court, 
which  they  could  not  gainsay,  but  seemed  inclined 
to  administer  more  exhortation,  and  to  show  him 
the  danger  of  his  condition ;  and  so  he  staid  until 
he  supposed  all  had  done.  They  were  quite  impor- 
tunate, however,  that  he  would  meet  the  full  com- 
mittee the  next  evening,  but  he  gave  them  no  en- 
couragement of  doing  so,  and  did  not  meet  them. 

At  the  close  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  he  was  in- 
vited into  the  committee  room,  where  he  met  with 
three  or  four  of  the  committee,  and  where  the  ques- 
tion, whether  he  would  take  the  advice  of  his 
friends,  was  urged  by  one  of  them,  which  was  only 
answered  by  asking  him,  whether  he  was  prepared 
to  give  advice  ?  Intimating  that  it  would  be  time 
enough  for  them  to  ascertain  that  fact  when  their 
advice  was  given. 

Some  allusion,  he  thinks,  was  made  by  them 
at  this  time,  to  the  passage  in  his  letter  which 
stated  that  one  of  them  had  demurred  to  the  doc- 
trines of  J.  J,  Gurney,  affirming,  that  although  he 
had  proved  it  by  one  witness,  that  they,  the  commit- 
tee, could  disprove  it  by  half  a  dozen  witnesses. 
And  to  which  J.  W.  replied,  that  a  negative  cannot 
be  proved,  not  even  by  any  number  of  witnesses, 
when  by  one  credible  individual  the  thing  had  been 
proved  by  an  affirmative.  But  one  of  them,  S. 
T.,  jr.,  said  that  he  was  a  greater  lawyer^  than  J. 
W.,  and  that  a  negative  can  be  proved,  but  did  not 
tell  how.  [Howbeit,  in  this  case,  the  negative 
could  only  be  proved  by  an  affirmative  witness, 


60 


NARRATIVE  AND 


testifying  that  D.  B.,  instead  of  being  with  the  com- 
mittee at  the  time,  was  at  some  other  place.] 

These  few  now  importuned  most  earnestly  that 
J.  W.  would  make  at  least  some  little  concession, 
and  asked  him  if  he  would  not  say  this,  viz  :  "  If  I 
have  done  wrong,  I  am  sorry  for  it."  To  which 
he  replied,  this  is  by  no  means  a  proper  way  [for  a 
transgressor]  to  make  satisfaction.  They  finally 
asked  him  if  he  w^ould  not  meet  the  whole  commit- 
tee next  morning,  and  pressed  him  to  do  so,  but  he 
did  not  promise,  telling  them  he  should  take  the  ad- 
vice of  his  friends. 

Sixth  day  morning,  agreeable  to  the  counsel  of 
his  friends,  he  again  met  the  Yearly  jMeeting's 
Committee,  and  was  there  again  pressed  to  make 
them  satisfaction  by  acknowledgment,  and  R.  G. 
undertook  to  give  a  history  of  the  case,  but  stated 
it  in  the  most  aggravated  point  of  view,  omitting 
the  circumstances  mihtating  against  the  committee, 
and  in  favor  of  J.  W.  However,  as  the  latter  had 
before  concluded  to  make  no  defence  before  the 
committee,  until  the3^  had  allowed  liim  the  just  right 
of  having  a  plain  account,  in  wanting,  of  all  their, 
charges  against  him ;  he  told  them,  that  how^ever 
unjust  and  aggravated  that  statement  was,  he  should, 
make  no  formal  defence.  Subsequently,  his  letter 
to  the  committee  was  read,  and  when  accomplished, 
reference  was  made  by  them  to  the  denial  therein 
contained,  of  the  right  or  authority  of  that  commit- 
tee to  reprehend  him  in  the  form  and  manner  the^ 
had  done.  He  novv^  called  for  a  copy  of  the  minute 
of  the  appointment  of  the  Select  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  but  it  was  not  produced  ;  and  then 
stated  that  he  had  applied  to  the  clerk  of  the  meet- 
ing which  appointed  them,  for  a  copy  of  that  minute, 
but  he  refused  to  give  it.  And  so  they  were  plead- 
ing for  assumed  powers  while  they  refused  to  pro- 
duce evidence  of  having  such  powers.  He  then  re- 
lated the  purport  of  the  minute  of  their  appointment, 


EXPOSITION. 


61 


substantially  as  it  was,  which  they  had  no  right  to 
gainsay,  as  the  only  evidence  was  in  their  hands, 
and  that  a  matter  of  record,  which  only  could  be 
admitted  to  prove  their  authority. 

He  stated  to  them  a  supposed  case  where  defec- 
tive accounts  should  be  sent  from  one  of  the  Quar- 
ters to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  a  committee  ap- 
pointed on  that  account,  and  asked  whether  such 
committee  would  have  a  right,  under  that  appoint- 
ment, to  go  all  over  the  Yearly  Meeting  in  the  exer- 
cise of  the  authority  thus  conferred  upon  it.  To 
this  they  made  no  reply,  and  it  was  deemed  by  J. 
W.  as  conclusive  against  them. 

They  now  professed,  and  that,  as  he  thought,  most 
dishonorably,  to  A  a  L'e  in  their  possession,  other  com- 
plaints against  him,  of  ichich  they  had  not  yet  told 
him.  He  then  desired,  that  if  they  had  other  charges 
against  him,  they  would  be  so  good  as  to  bring 
them  forward,  as  well  as  those  of  which  they  pro- 
fessed that  he  had  sufficient  knowledge,  so  that  he 
might  have  a  plain  list  of  the  whole.  To  which 
one  of  them  repUed,  that  they  had  many  others ! 
[He  supposed  that  they  made  this  pretension  to 
having  more  charges  in  store,  for  the  purpose  of 
alarming  him,  and  to  induce  him  to  yield  to  their 
demands.]  But  no  encouragement  was  given  of 
letting  him  know  what  they  were,  nor  yet  of  mak- 
ing tangible  on  paper  any  thing  of  the  kind  what- 
ever. In  answer  to  their  frequent  demands  for 
concessions,  he  replied,  now  near  the  close,  that 
there  were  many  friends,  and  probably  in  all 
parts  of  the  society,  who  were  nearly  united  in 
making  a  stand  against  the  unsound  doctrines 
spread  abroad  among  us,  and  that  with  them,  and 
in  the  same  cause,  he  had  taken  a  pretty  prominent 
part ;  therefore,  if  he  should  now  condemn  his  hav- 
ing withstood  those  doctrines,  he  would  inflict  a 
wound  upon  the  good  cause,  and  upon  the  feehngs  of 
his  friends,  as  well  as  upon  his  own  conscience.  To 


62 


NARRATIVE  AND 


this  one  replied,  that  those  alluded  to  in  other  parts 
of  the  society,  were  as  likely  to  be  mistaken  as  was 
John  Wilbur.  To  which  he  saw  fit  to  make  no  re- 
ply. This  remark,  however,  was  an  assent  that  the 
question  should  rest  upon  the  ground  of  doctrines. 

This  committee,  as  it  appears,  were  desirous  that 
he  should  say  something  that  they  could  call  a  con- 
demnation  of  errors  which  he  had  committed^  and  then 
to  Hberate  him  by  their  pardon,  and  in  that  way  to 
cast  a  stigma  upon  him,  and  on  the  cause  which  he 
had  supported ;  and  which  would  go  to  strengthen 
the  doctrines  which  he  had  reprobated.  This  he 
could  no  more  agree  to,  than  G.  Fox  and  others 
could  agree  to  be  released  from  prison,  under  the 
sentence  of  a  premunire,  by  a  pardon  from  the  king, 
the  acceptance  of  which  would  have  implied  a  con- 
fession of  guilt.  George  Fox  therefore  declared, 
that  he  would  rather  have  lain  in  jail  all  his  days, 
than  to  act  in  any  way  dishonorable  to  the  truth, 
or  as  implying  transgression  on  his  part. 

Considerable  more  passed  in  the  course  of  these 
discussions,  that  was  not  essential  to  the  merits  of 
the  controversy,  and  is  therefore  omitted. 

At  our  Select  Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  11th 
month  following,  and  in  the  forepart  thereof,  divers 
pointed  declarations  were  thrown  out,  evidently 
aimed  at  J.  W.,  which  passed  without  remark  ;  but 
near  the  close  of  the  business  part  of  that  meeting, 
one  of  its  committee  fell  to  censuring  South  Kings- 
ton select  meeting,  for  sending  up  to  that  meeting, 
as  representative,  one  who  was  under  the  care  of 
a  committee  of  that  meeting.  And  now,  although 
J.  W.  had  let  pass,  without  remark,  those  pointed 
declarations  which  were  aimed  at  him,  (he  having 
a  right  to  do  so)  yet  when  the  proceedings  of  that 
meeting  from  which  he  was  there  as  a  representa- 
tive, were  condemned,  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  come 
forward  in  vindication  of  its  rights ;  and  he  inform- 
ed the  meeting  that  the  friends  of  South  Kingston 


EXPOSITION. 


63 


meeting  believed  that  this  Meeting's  Committee,  not 
being  appointed  for  that  purpose,  had  interfered 
with,  and  had  invaded  the  rights  which  the  Yearly 
Meeting  had  confided  to  it,  and  to  all  others  within 
its  limits,  of  that  description,  and  that  in  a  manner 
unauthorized  by  Discipline,  and  that  this  interfer- 
ence was  therefore  gratuitous.  And  further  said, 
that  superior  meetings  and  their  committees  were 
bound  to  move  through  the  regular  and  defined 
channels  of  the  same  discipline  which  was  to  govern 
those  of  an  inferior  order  as  well  as  individuals. 
To  which  no  one  responded,  for  the  meeting  im- 
mediately rose. 

One  of  the  pointed  communications  above  alluded 
to,  was  delivered  by  T.  A.,  in  which  he  referred  to 
the  passage,  "When  thou  bring  thy  gift  to  the  altar, 
and  there  find  that  thy  brother  hath  ought  against 
thee,  leave  there  thy  gift  and  go  and  first  be  recon- 
ciled to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer  thy 
gift."  This  was  evidently  said  with  a  design  to 
make  it  appear  that  J.  W.  had  no  right  to  be  exer- 
cised in  the  ministry  until  he  had  become  reconcil- 
ed to  the  committee.  A  suggestion  which  came,  as 
it  was  thought,  with  no  very  good  grace,  from  one 
of  a  committee,  who  had  strenuously  defended  J.  J. 
Gumey  and  his  ministry,  a  man  whose  mission  and 
ministerial  service,  in  a  proposed  and  extensive 
visit  abroad,  was  objected  to  by  a  number  neajriy 
equal  to  those  who  united  with  if.  in  his  own  select 
Yearly  Meetrhg,  and  he  desired  to  forbear  going  on 
the  proposed  service,  until  he  were  reconciled  to 
his  friends  by  a  suspension  of  his  lecturing,  and  a 
correction  of  his  writings  :  an  objection  founded 
upon  the  palpable  unsoundness  of  his  views,  and 
consequently  it  was  of  immense  importance  that 
those  views  should  be  retracted  previous  to  his  libe- 
ration for  such  a  mission,  and  upon  which  the  pas- 
sage before  us  has  a  most  direct  and  strong  bear- 
ing. 


64 


NARRATIVE  AND 


And  evidence  is  not  wanting  to  prove,  that  the 
want  of  reconciliation  between  J.  W.  and  the  com- 
mittee originated  in  the  fact,  that  he,  (like  those 
who  objected  in  J.  J.  Gurney's  own  Yearly  Meet- 
ing,) was  not  satisfied  with  his  travelling  as  a  minis- 
ter, until  he  retracted  his  offensive  doctrines. 

Under  existing  circumstances,  if  sound  ministers 
were  bound  to  conform  to  the  wishes  of  the  defend- 
ers of  J.  J.  Gurney,  by  suspending  their  gospel  ser- 
vices, it  results  in  a  concession  of  truth  to  error.  Has 
therefore  a  conformity  to  their  desires  and  injunc- 
tions, in  the  nature  of  things,  any  greater  claim  upon 
the  true  messengers  than  had  the  command  to 
Amos  the  Prophet  by  Zedekiah,  or  to  Peter  and 
John  by  the  Chief  Priests  and  Pharisees  ;  or  to  our 
early  Friends  by  their  opposers  ;  however  clothed 
all  of  these  were  with  constituted  authority  ? 

When  order,  law  or  discipline,  however  good  in 
their  primitive  institution,  whilst  in  the  hands  of 
good  men,  are  perverted  and  turned  into  instru- 
ments of  oppression,  and  made  to  suppress  the  gift 
of  God,  in  bearing  testimony  to  the  truth ;  the  con- 
sideration becomes  of  serious  and  deep  import. 

Was  it  wrong  for  Amos  to  disregard  the  authori- 
ty of  the  king's  court  ?  Was  it  wrong  for  Peter  and 
John  to  forego  the  constituted  authority  of  the  Jew- 
ish church,  when  by  that  authority  they  were  for- 
bidden to  preach  Christ  ?  Was  it  wrong  for  our 
early  friends  to  disobey  the  injunction  of  the  eccle- 
siastical and  civil  authorities  of  their  day,  in 
preaching  the  true  gospel  of  Christ  ?  No, — because 
the  authorities  under  which  they  acted,  were  per- 
verted and  made  the  engine  of  an  unhallowed  pur- 
pose— were  exercised  for  the  purpose  of  restraining 
religious  duty. 

In  the  cases  alluded  to,  the  very  intention  of  re- 
straining the  right,  was  to  make  way  for  the  estab- 
lishment and  perpetuation  of  the  wrong ! 


EXPOSITION. 


65 


But  the  intentions  of  God,  in  moving  his  servants 
to  preach  the  truth,  was  the  reverse  of  theirs, — was 
for  the  purpose  of  exposing  and  eradicating  the 
wrong,  and  estabhshing  the  right.  It  was  so,  as  we 
have  seen,  both  under  the  Jewish  and  Christian 
dispensations, — that  the  reformers  under  the  latter, 
whether  earher  or  later,  though  marked  as  offend- 
ers, could  not  hold  their  peace — though  forbidden 
by  those  in  authority,  could  not  flinch  from  their 
religious  duty,  from  testifying  against  the  evil,  or 
for  the  advancement  of  that  which  was  good. 

Under  the  best  of  church  government  that  has 
ever  been  instituted,  when  it  is  abused,  and  a  party 
of  unsound  leaders  have  grasped  the  reins  of  that 
government,  and  in  violation  of  its  discipline,  at- 
tempt to  silence  the  honest  supporters  of  it,  as  well 
as  its  doctrines,  shall  these,  or  ought  these  to  hold 
their  peace  when  their  faithful  labors,  under  the 
guidance  of  best  Wisdom,  are  the  means  appointed 
for  sustaining  her  doctrines,  discipline  and  testimo- 
nies ?  But  it  is  no  marvel  that  a  party,  designing  an 
innovation  upon  the  doctrines  of  a  religious  society, 
should  be  disposed  to  silence  and  to  put  down  all 
who  make  a  stand  against  them. 

Another  of  the  committee,  (J.  M.,)  made  an  effort 
in  that  meeting  to  put  J.  W.  in  the  place  of  the  old 
prophet  who  deceived  and  misled  the  prophet  of  the 
Lord — he  that  was  sent  to  declare  against  Jero- 
boam's idolatry  and  his  altar  at  Bethel. 

But  J.  M.  found  some  difficulty  in  making  his 
parable  to  bear  on  any  one  point  of  that  scripture 
account.  Whereas,  if  J.  J.  G.  and  his  apostacy 
from  the  doctrines  and  testimonies  of  our  Israel, 
were  compared  to  Jeroboam  and  his  departure, 
and  those  who  feel  themselves  bound  to  testify 
against  him  and  his  views  with  the  prophet  of  the 
Lord,  the  parable  w^ould  bear  on  most,  if  not  on 
every  point. 


66 


NARRATIVE  AND 


And  again,  if  those  who  have  resorted  to  so 
many  unhallowed  efforts  to  turn  the  conscientious 
aside  from  truth's  direction,  were  compared  to  the 
old  man,  who  professed  to  be  a  prophet,  and  who 
probably  had  been  a  true  prophet,  the  comparison 
would  apply  in  a  most  striking  manner  in  almost 
every  point.  Jeroboam  had  in  many  respects  de- 
parted from  the  doctrines  and  testimonies  of  the 
Lord's  people,  and  so  has  J.  J.  G.  A  servant  of 
the  Lord  testified  against  Jeroboam  and  his  altar, 
and  so  J.  W.  and  many  others  have  testified  against 
J.  J.  G.  and  his  altar. 

The  Lord  commanded  his  servant  formally  not 
to  turn  aside  from  his  direction  to  eat  or  drink  in 
that  place, — that  is,  not  with  Jeroboam,  nor  with 
his  priests  nor  prophets.  And  so  the  Lord  has  in- 
structed these  in  the  same  sense  not  to  turn  aside 
from  his  purpose  by  a  compromise,  likened  to  eat- 
ing or  drinking  with  the  prophets  of  J.  J.  Gurney. 
And  it  is  very  likely,  that  if  J.  W.  had  been  pre- 
vailed upon  to  turn  aside  from  the  course  prescribed, 
that  the  devourer  would  have  had  power  over  him. 
And  there  is  much  reason  to  fear,  that  many  are  in 
danger  of  losing  the  precious  life,  by  being  prevail- 
ed upon  to  abandon  the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  to 
believe  that  J.  J.  G.,  and  those  who  advocate  him, 
are  the  prophets  of  the  Lord,  and  to  listen  to  their 
testimony. 

On  the  13th  of  1st  month,  1842,  two  of  the  com- 
mittee, as  noticed  in  the  complaint,  did  come  to  the 
house  of  J.  W.,  under  the  profession,  as  repeatedly 
avowed  by  one  of  them,  that  they  came  upon  their 
own  individual  concern,  but  it  afterwards  appeared 
f   by  information  from  another  of  the  committee,  that 
/    they  came  by  direction  and  as  a  deputation  from  the 
\    committee.  Their  object  and  labor  apparently  was, 
'   to  obtain  from  him  a  condemnation  of  the  course  he 
had  taken  as  before  pressed  by  the  committee. 


EXPOSITION. 


67 


But  it  is  due  to  them  to  say,  that  they  did  allow 
him  pretty  fully  to  vindicate  his  cause ;  which  was 
done  in  a  manner  that  they  w^ere  not  prepared  to 
gainsay ;  but  one  of  them,  though  unable  to  point 
out  error  in  his  proceedings,  said,  "  that  as  the  com- 
mittee called  for  something  from  him,  his  confidence 
was  such  in  the  committee,  it  was  his  opinion  that 
something  was  due  from  J.  W.  to  them." 

During  the  interview,  J.  W.  asked  them  if  they 
believed  J.  J.  Gurney  to  be  a  sound  Friend  ?  and 
was  answered,  by  one  of  them,  unhesitatingly,  in  the 
affirmative. 

In  the  4th  month,  1842,  fifteen  in  number  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  attended  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting,  and  brought  a  voluminous 
complaint  against  him,  without  any  previous  notice, 
and  literally  made  good  their  assertions  eight  or  ten 
months  before,  viz:  that  they  had  many  things 
against  him,  of  which  they  had  not  yet  told  him. 
So  they  did  indeed,  couch  divers  charges  in  this 
complaint  which  they  had  never  before  brought 
against  him  as  such. 

This  attempt  by  force  of  numbers,  as  it  appeared, 
to  compel  the  Monthly  Meeting  to  take  immediate 
measures,  contrary  to  the  usual  course  of  business, 
by  overseers,  and  through  a  preparative  meeting, 
produced  a  want  of  confidence,  both  in  the  Monthly 
Meeting  and  in  the  preparative  meeting  and  over- 
seers: and  raised  the  question  in  many  minds, 
What  can  be  the  merits  of  a  complaint  which  they 
dare  not  venture  w^ith  the  overseers  and  preparative 
meeting,  nor  even  with  the  Monthly  Meeting,  with- 
out so  great  a  number  to  enforce  it  ?  Not  that  the 
Monthly  Meeting  was  unwilling  to  recognize  it, 
through  the  usual  channel  prescribed  by  discipline 
and  the  order  of  society.  Nor  was  J.  W.  unwilling 
that  this  case  should  be  submitted  to  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting  for  decision  in  a  regular 
manner  according  to  discipline. 


68 


NARRATIVE  AND 


The  following  account  of  proceedings  relative  to 
the  case  is  compiled  from  minutes  thereof  kept  by 
members  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting. 

In  the  4th  month,  1842,  a  large  number  o  f  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  attended  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  brought  a  complaint  in 
writing  against  John  Wilbur,  a  member  of  that 
meeting  ;  which  is  as  follows  : 

"  To  SouiJi  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends : 

We,  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing to  extend  a  general  care  on  its  behalf,  for  the 
maintenance  of  our  Christian  principles  and  testimo- 
nies, and  the  preservation  of  love  and  unity  among  our 
members  ;  and  in  the  ability  that  may  be  afforded  us 
to  assist  and  advise  such  meetings  and  members, 
as  circumstances  may  require,  and  Vf^y  open  for, 
under  the  direction  of  best  Wisdom  ;  having  had  our 
minds  introduced  into  deep  concern  and  exercise  on 
account  of  the  course  pursued  for  some  time  past,  by 
John  Wilbur,  a  member  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  in  the  station  of  a  minister  ;  believe  the  time 
has  now  come,  for  us  to  state  some  of  the  particulars, 
w^herein  he  has  departed  from  the  good  order  of  our 
religious  society,  in  the  disregard  of  our  Christian  dis- 
cipline. 

He  has  circulated  an  anonymous  pamphlet,  which 
impeaches  the  character  of  our  Society,  and  in  which, 
some  of  its  important  doctrines,  as  exemplified  in  the 
religious  engagements  of  some  of  its  faithful  ministers, 
are  reproachfully  held  up  to  view  ;  and  purports  to 
contain  the  proceedings  of  London  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Ministers  and  Elders,  with  the  sentiments  of  divers 
Friends  therein  named,  when  the  subject  of  liberating 
a  minister  to  visit  this  country  was  before  that  meeting. 
The  object  of  which  together  with  sundry  letters  which 
he  has  circulated,  appears  to  be  to  induce  the  belief 
that  the  concern  did  not  receive  the  unity  of  the  meet- 
ing, and  that  the  clerk  did  not  act  in  conformity  with 


EXPOSITION. 


69 


the  true  sense  and  judgment  of  the  meeting  in  signing 
the  certificate,  thus  endeavoring  to  invalidate  both  the 
proceedings  and  conclusion  of  a  meeting,  in  unity  with 
this  Yearly  Meeting,  and  whose  certificate  on  behalf 
of  the  same  friend  was  received  and  united  with,  as 
entered  on  our  records.  And  while  the  friend  was  in 
this  country,  and  engaged  in  the  discharge  of  his 
apprehended  religious  duty,  with  full  certificates  of 
unity  from  the  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Meetings  of 
which  he  is  a  member,  and  the  Yearly  Meeting  of 
Ministers  and  Elders  of  London,  and  which  were  duly 
presented,  received,  and  accredited,  in  all  the  Yearly 
Meetings  in  this  country  except  one,  which  he  did  not 
attend.  And  thus  was  he  at  liberty  for  religious  ser- 
vice within  their  limits  in  the  full  and  acknowledged 
character  of  an  approved  and  authenticated  minister 
of  the  society  of  Friends  ; — John  Wilbur,  for  the  want, 
as  we  believe,  of  an  humble  abiding  in  the  truth,  has 
circulated  divers  letters,  one  or  more  of  which  appear 
to  have  been  written  in  England,  and  others  origina- 
ting with  himself,  addressed  to  different  Friends  in 
this  country,  which  were  intended  to  show  that  the 
minister  thus  liberated  to  religious  service  was  not  in 
unity  with  his  friends  at  home,  contrary  to  the  long 
established  order  of  our  religious  society,  and  designed 
to  close  his  way  in  the  minds  of  Friends.  And  we 
also  believe,  that  for  the  want  of  maintaining  his  in- 
tegiity  in  that  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Spirit,  which 
would  have  preserved  him  in  unity  with  Friends,  he 
has  indulged  in  a  spirit  of  detraction,  in  speaking  and 
writing,  by  which  the  religious  character  of  divers 
Friends  in  our  own  and  other  Yearly  Meetings  has 
been  much  misrepresented. 

Many  friends  were  introduced  into  deep  conceni  on 
his  account,  and  several  of  them  treated  with  him  in 
tenderness  and  love  in  relation  to  it,  but  without  pro- 
ducing any  apparent  change  in  his  mind,  and  there 
having  been  a  committee  appointed  by  Rhode  Island 
Quarterly  Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders,  in  the  fifth 
month,  1840,  of  which  body  he  was  a  member,  on  ac- 


70 


NARRATIVE  AND 


count  of  existing  deficiencies  as  manifest  from  the 
answers  to  the  queries,  and  under  a  concern  for  the 
cause  of  truth  ;  and  ihey  having  been  made  acquainted 
with  John  Wilbui's  course  as  last  above  stated,  and  he 
having  made  divers  assertions  tending  to  induce  dissat- 
isfaction among  Friends,  and  with  the  proceedings  of 
our  Yearly  Meeting  in  various  particulars,  and  calcu- 
lated to  produce  division  therein,  and  also  to  disturb 
the  unity  of  different  Yearly  Meetings,  and  to  alienate 
the  feelings  of  their  members  from  each  other,  sought 
an  opportunity  with  him,  in  which  they  endeavored  to 
show  him  the  effects  of  his  proceedings  both  upon  him- 
self and  others  ;  but  he  so  far  from  receiving  these 
labors  of  love  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  were  admin- 
istered, soon  after  wrote  a  letter  to  one  of  the  com- 
mittee, in  which  he  made  unjust  insinuations,  and  pre- 
ferred charges  against  them  which  they  deny  in  point 
of  fact. 

They,  nevertheless,  continued  their  care  and  labor, 
but  his  mind  appearing  closed  against  their  advice  in 
the  5lh  month,  1S41 ;  we,  at  their  request,  believed 
it  to  be  our  duty  to  extend  care  in  his  case ;  and  it  is 
with  deep  regret  and  sorrow  we  have  observed  the 
effect  his  course  of  conduct  has  produced,  in  lessening 
that  regard  for  the  wholesome  restraints  of  the  disci- 
pline, and  for  the  labor  of  faithful  Friends,  for  the 
preservation  of  that  good  order,  love,  and  unity, 
which  are  essential  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
body. 

We  have  had  repeated  opportunities  with  him  in 
which  we  have  labored  to  convince  him  of  his  errors, 
but  this  desirable  object  not  having  been  accomplish- 
ed, and  after  waiting  several  months  to  afford  him  op- 
portunity to  make  satisfaction  for  his  deviation,  and 
two  of  the  committee  having  unavailingly  visited  him 
on  this  account  at  his  own  house,  and  there  not  appear- 
ing that  change  in  his  mind,  which  is  necessary  to  his 
being  restored  to  the  unity  of  Friends,  we  now  believe 
it  incumbent  upon  us  in  discharge  of  the  service  con- 
fided to  us  by  the  Yearly  Meeting,  to  recommend  his 


EXPOSITION. 


71 


case  to  the  immediate  notice  and  c^ire  of  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting. 

Frovidence,  Mh  Mo.  23,  1843. 
(Signed,) 

Rowland  Greene,  Allen  Wing, 

John  Osborne,  Perez  Peck, 

Caleb  Nichols,  Da\td  Buffum, 

Daniel  Taber,  John  Meader, 

Edward  Wing,  William  Jenkins, 

Thomas  Anthontt,  Mary  Wing, 

Elizabeth  Header,         Olive  Wing, 

Mary  B.  Allen. 

After  the  reading  of  the  complaint,  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  proposed  that  the  meeting 
should  take  action  upon  it,  by  appointing  a  commit- 
tee on  the  case  at  that  time. 

The  Friend  complained  of,  and  others,  took  the 

f round  that  the  complaint  should  come  to  the 
lonthly  Meeting  through  the  overseers  and  Pre- 
parative Meeting — agreeably  to  our  uniform  prac- 
tice,— but  the  committee  said,  their  authority  from 
the  Yearly  Meeting  was  such  as  to  obviate  the  ne- 
cessity of  such  preliminary  proceedings — and  when 
it  was  proposed  that  the  case  should  be  referred  for 
a  month  on  the  ground  that  the  Monthly  Meeting 
was  hardly  in  a  situation  to  act  in  so  important  a 
matter  on  account  of  the  small  number  present,* 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  insisted  upon  im- 
mediate proceedings — saying  an  addition  could  be 
made  at  a  future  time  to  the  committee  now  ap- 
pointed, if  the  meeting  desired  it  ;  and  threatened, 
if  the  ^Monthly  Meeting  did  not  comply  with  their 
advice,  to  carry  a  complaint  against  it  to  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting. 


*  The  meeting  was  at  this  time  held  at  the  most  remote  place 
from  the  greater  number  of  Friends — and  the  day  was  wet,  and 
consequently  a  smaller  number  than  usual  were  present. 


72 


NARRATIVE  AND 


After  an  expression  by  the  meeting,  in  which  the 
greater  number  objected  to  the  proposed  immediate 
action ;  the  clerk  proposed  to  refer  the  decision  of 
the  question  to  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
who  had  been  urging  it  upon  the  meeting. 

They  recommended  the  clerk  to  decide ;  which 
he  then  did  in  favor  of  their  views. 

The  members  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  generally  knew  very  little  of  the  merits  of 
this  case  before  it  was  brought  to  them  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee ;  but  the  unusual  so- 
licitude and  determination  manifested  by  that  com- 
mittee in  regard  to  it,  and  their  apparent  control 
over  the  clerk,  induced  many  to  beheve  that  if  a 
fair  and  impartial  investigation  of  the  case  was  had, 
it  was  important  to  have  an  independent  and  im- 
partial clerk  appointed,  and  accordingly,  at  the 
Monthly  Meeting  in  the  5th  month,  the  time  for 
which  the  clerk  was  appointed  having  expired,  a 
new  clerk  was  chosen,  having  the  unity  of  more 
than  three-fourths  of  those  who  expressed  them- 
selves ;  and  those  who  opposed  the  appointment 
did  it  on  the  ground  of  postponing  the  action  of  the 
meeting,  and  not  from  any  expressed  objection  to 
the  person  appointed.  The  former  clerk  having 
left  the  table,  the  one  newly  appointed  was  request- 
ed to  take  liis  seat,  but  before  doing  so,  he  proposed 
for  the  former  clerk  to  make  a  minute  of  the  ap- 
pointment, but  the  former  clerk  said  it  was  not  cus- 
tomary. The  new  clerk  then  went  to  the  table, 
and  the  business  of  the  meeting  proceeded ;  the 
former  clerk  and  those  who  had  advocated  the 
postponement  of  the  appointment  of  the  clerk,  par- 
ticipated therein.  At  this  time  one  of  the  commit- 
tee in  the  case  of  J.  Wilbur  proposed  that  an  addi- 
tion be  made  to  that  committee,  the  case  being,  as 
he  said,  a  very  important  one,  and  the  meeting, 
when  they  were  appointed,  small.  An  addition  of 
five  Friends  was  then  made  to  the  committee. 


EXPOSITION. 


73 


At  the  Monthly  Meeting  in  the  6th  month,  several 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  attended,  and 
proposed  that  the  new  clerk  should  resign,  and  that 
the  meeting  should  re-appoint  the  former  one  ;  giv- 
ing it  as  their  opinion  that  this  course  would  tend  to 
restore  unity  and  harmony  in  the  meeting,  which 
they  professed  to  be  the  object  of  their  visit.  The 
committee  said,  their  reason  for  this  advice  was, 
that  they  had  heard  that  the  appointment  of  the 
clerk  was  made  in  a  disorderly  manner,  and  that  it 
was  planned  out  of  meeting  ;  b  ut  they  were  unable 
to  sustain  these  charges  when  called  upon  to  do  so. 
A  large  part  of  the  meeting  expressed  their  satisfac- 
tion with  the  appointment  of  the  new  clerk — making 
it  evident  that  the  change  proposed  would  not  tend 
to  unite  the  meeting ;  and  the  subject  was  passed 
from  without  making  the  change. 

A  committee  being  appointed  at  this  time  to 
transfer  the  books  and  papers  of  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing from  the  former  to  the  present  clerk,  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  stated,  that  they  had  advised 
the  former  clerk  to  retain  them  ;  and  gave  as  a 
reason,  that  they  had  cause  to  apprehend  that  a 
separation  w^as  contemplated  by  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting.  This  was  disclaimed  by  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  no  evidence  of  it  was  ad- 
duced by  the  committee. 

In  the  7th  month  the  committee  in  the  case  of 
John  Wilbur  met  for  the  investigation  of  that  case, 
and  six  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  attended. 
Before  the  examination  of  the  case  was  commenc- 
ed, J.  W.  desired  to  have  one  or  two  of  his  friends 
to  sit  with  him  and  assist  him ;  and  after  some  dis- 
cussion, in  which  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
made  objection  to  his  having  this  privilege — the  re- 
spective parties  withdrew,  submitting  the  matter  to 
the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee,  who  unanimous- 
ly decided  to  allow  J.  W.  the  assistance  of  two  of 
his  friends.  Upon  their  return,  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
4 


74 


NARRATIVE  AND 


Committee  still  objected,  and  again  retired  a  short 
time  for  consultation  among  themselves.  On  again 
coming  in,  they  took  decided  ground  that  the  decis- 
ion of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  must  be 
reversed  or  they  should  not  proceed  with  the  open- 
ing of  the  case,  but  should  leave.  The  Monthly 
Meeting's  Committee,  on  being  again  appealed  to, 
declined  to  take  from  J.  W.  the  privilege  they  had 
granted,  without  he  should  consent  thereto.  J.  W. 
subsequently  did  consent  to  proceed  without  the 
help  of  his  friends,  as  from  the  determination  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  no  other  way  appear- 
ed to  go  forward  with  the  case,  with  said  commit- 
tee present,  which  was  to  him  desirable.  During 
the  discussion  of  this  question  of  allowing  him  as- 
sistance, which  occupied  the  whole  of  the  first  day, 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  claimed  that  it 
was  their  province,  after  representing  the  case  on 
their  part,  to  join  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee 
in  judging  the  same  ;  a  position  which  the  Monthly 
Meeting's  Committee  were  not  ready  to  allow.  The 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  also  during  the  same 
discussion,  denied  that  they  were  complainants  in 
this  case — and  when,  the  next  morning,  they  were 
asked  by  J.  W.  whether  they  still  persisted  in  this 
denial,  notwithstanding  their  names  were  attached 
to  the  complaint ;  they  made  no  reply.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  trial,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
introduced  the  pamphlet  alluded  to  in  the  complaint, 
and  which,  J.  W.  was  therein  charged  with  circulat- 
ing. He  requested  the  pamphlet  might  be  read,  but 
this  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  opposed,  pro- 
posing to  read  only  certain  extracts  which  they  had 
selected  from  it ;  and  said  if  it  was  read  at  length, 
they  should  leave  ;  they  opposed  it  strongly,  saying 
it  would  make  them  accessory  to  the  further  circu- 
lation of  an  improper  book,  and  responsible  for  it, 
if  read  before  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee,  but 
subsequently  said  they  were  willing  the  committee 


EXPOSITION. 


75 


should  have  the  pamphlet  for  examination  !  The 
Monthly  Meeting's  Committee,  however,  decided  to 
have  it  read,  and  it  was  read  accordingly.  The  evi- 
dence of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  in  support 
of  charges  in  the  complaint  being  gone  through  with, 
J.  W.  proposed  in  his  defence  to  go  into  the  exami- 
nation of  certain  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  So- 
ciety as  held  by  the  early  Friends,  and  also  of  cer- 
tain other  doctrines  promulgated  by  Joseph  John 
Gurney,  as  those  of  the  Society,  because  it  was  on 
account  of  his  objection  to  the  latter,  that  he  was 
complained  of  This  was  objected  to  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee. 

In  support  of  his  right  to  do  so,  J.  W.  refered  to 
the  Discipline,  p.  74,  which  is  as  follows  : 

**  The  importance  of  steadfastly  maintaining  our 
ancient  principles,  respecting  the  doctrines  of  the  Gos- 
pel, coming  renewedly  under  our  consideration,  we 
earnestly  recommend  and  enjoin  upon  Quarterly  and 
Monthly  Meetings,  and  upon  all  faithful  Friends,  to  be 
watchful  over  our  members,  as  it  regards  the  profes- 
sion of  their  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  both  as  to 
his  outward  coming  in  the  flesh,  wherein  he  tasted 
death  for  every  man,  and  was  the  propitiatory  sacrifice 
for  our  sins,  and  not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world,  suffering  the  just  for  the  unjust, 
that  we  might  be  brought  unto  God  through  Him  ; — 
and  to  his  spiritual  appearance  in  the  heart,  for,  '*  unto 
them  that  look  for  him,  shall  he  appear  the  second 
time,  without  sin,  unto  salvation."  And  if  in  any 
instance  there  should  be  manifested  any  deviation  from 
our  Christian  principles  in  these  respects,  that  they 
proceed  to  labor  with  such  in  the  spirit  of  meekness 
and  wisdom,  endeavoring  to  bring  them  to  a  sense 
of  their  departure  from  our  acknowledged  princi- 
ples, that  if  possible  they  may  be  restored  to  sound- 
ness of  faith.  And  if  there  should  be  any  who  should 
persist  in  their  errors,  notwithstanding  such  labor  in 
brotherly  love,  that  our  testimony  be  maintained  by 
testifying  against  such.'* 


76 


NARRATIVE  AND 


The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  took  the 
ground  that  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  had 
no  right  to  set  themselves  up  as  judges  of  doctrine, 
and  that  only  two  bodies  are  in  any  case  authorized 
to  judge  of  doctrines,  to  wit,  the  Yearly  Meeting 
and  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings ;  that  if  they  enter- 
ed into  doctrines  they  would  assume  authority  to  de- 
cide that  the  great  body  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  are 
unsound,  taking  into  view  the  great  unanimity  of  it, 
in  granting  Joseph  John  Gurney  a  returning  certifi- 
cate. 

The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  asked  a  decision 
of  this  question,  and  after  taking  time  for  delibera- 
tion the  committee  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  gave 
the  following  written  decision : 

*'  Inasmuch  as  the  complaint  against  John  Wilbur, 
charges  him  with  circulating  an  anonymous  pamphlet, 
in  which  some  of  the  important  doctrines  of  our  religious 
society  are  reproachfully  held  up  to  view;  and  inas- 
much as  the  merits  of  that  matter  have  been  fully  gone 
into,  on  the  part  of  the  Yeaily  Meeting's  Committee  : 
and  further,  as  it  appears  to  us,  that  the  merits  of  this 
essentially  depends  upon  the  doctrines  which  have 
been  called  in  question  by  John  Wilbur ;  we  have 
concluded  to  allow  him  to  proceed  with  his  defence, 
introducing  such  evidence  and  documents  on  these 
subjects,  as  shall  appear  essentially  to  relate  to  the 
same." 

And,  subsequently,  the  committee  gave  the  fol- 
lowing reasons  for  their  decisions,  namely : 

"  That  they  came  to  this  conclusion  on  the  ground 
that  John  Wilbur  had  been  charged  with  circulating 
information,  both  in  writing  and  print,  calculated  and 
intended  to  close  the  way  of  a  Friend,  from  England, 
travelling  among  us  as  an  approved  and  accredited 
minister, — as  well  as  certain  other  offences  against  the 
discipline  and  order  of  society  ; — and  he  pleads  in  de- 


EXPOSITION. 


77 


fence,  that  what  he  has  done  has  been  in  the  faithful 
discharge  of  his  apprehended  religious  duty,  in  guard 
ing  the  Society  against  the  introduction  of  unsound 
and  pernicious  doctrines,  subversive  of  Quakerism, 
which  doctrines  he  maintained  were  held  and  promul- 
gated by  the  individual  alluded  to.  Now,  since  our 
Christian  discipline  enjoins  upon  all  faithful  friends  to 
be  watchful  against  such  doctiines,  and  to  testify 
against  them  ;  it  appears  to  us,  that  no  less  could  be 
done,  than  to  allow  the  person  so  charged,  to  show,  if 
he  can,  that  he  has  been  acting  in  conformity  with 
the  Discipline  in  such  cases. 

In  answer  to  the  assumption  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  that  we  have  no  right  to  judge  of  doctrines ; 
and  that  the  only  Todies  authorized  to  do  so,  are  the 
Yearly  Meeting,  and  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings  ;  we 
would  observe,  that  Monthly  Meetings  and  Commit- 
tees appointed  by  them,  are  required  to  judge  of  doc- 
trines in  many  cases;  as  on  receiving  members,  whether 
they  embrace  our  principles,  and  sometimes  in  disown- 
ing members  for  an  abandonment  of  them.  And  it 
will  be  seen  that  the  discipline  above  alluded  to,  would 
involve  an  absurdity  if  this  was  not  the  case,  for  therein 
all  faithful  friends  are  enjoined  to  be  watchful  against 
the  manifestation  of  unsound  doctrines  among  our 
members. 

-  We  acknowledge,  that  the  Yearly  Meeting  has  very 
properly  constituted  its  Meeting  for  Sufferings,  the 
body  to  judge  of  the  soundness  of  doctrines  proposed 
to  be  published  as  those  of  the  Society ;  and  whose 
especial  duty  it  is  to  guard  against  every  inroad  of 
error  among  us ; — but  this  does  not,  and  cannot  debar 
subordinate  meetings  and  their  members,  from  the  rigJit 
and  duty  of  judging  for  themselves  in  so  vital  a  matter 
as  the  doctrines  they  embiace  ;  and  bearing  their  tes- 
timony against  manifest  unsoundness,  in  whomsoever  it 
may  appear.  And,  so  far  as  our  mieetings  and  mem- 
bers are  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  which  leads 
into  all  truth,  so  far  there  will  be  an  unity  of  sentiment 
among  them,  and  all,  as  we  beheve,  in  full  accordance 
with  those  doctrines  and  principles  so  clearly  and  fully 


78 


NARRATIVE  AND 


testified  of,  in  the  early  days  of  the  Society  by  George 
Fox,  and  the  primitive  Friends." 

The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  being  informed 
of  the  decision  of  the  committee  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting  on  this  question,  immediately  withdrew, 
taking  with  them  all  the  papers  and  documents 
which  they  had  introduced  to  sustain  their  charges. 
The  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  continued  their 
sittings  to  the  conclusion  of  the  investigation. 

At  the  monthly  meeting  in  the  seventh  month  a 
number  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  attend- 
ed. The  committee  appointed  to  transfer  the  books 
and  papers,  reported  that  they  were  unabled  to  ob- 
tain them ;  the  former  clerk  refusing  to  give  them 
up  ;  alleging  as  a  reason,  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  advised  him  to  retain  them.  It  was  pro- 
posed to  take  him  under  dealing  for  the  offence,  and 
the  meeting  took  the  case  into  consideration,  deny- 
ing the  right  of  the  committee  to  interfere  with  the 
records.  The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  object- 
ed to  his  being  taken  under  dealing,  but  expressed 
their  satisfaction  with  the  continuance  of  the  same 
committee  for  the  same  purpose  as  before,  and  were 
willing,  if  Friends  thought  best,  that  one  or  two 
names  be  added  ! 

(A  member  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  hav- 
ing a  few  words  to  say,  not  referring  to  the  merits 
of  the  case,  one  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
denied  his  right  to  speak,  because  he  was  not  a 
member  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting, 
thus  interfering  with  that  religious  freedom  of  ex- 
pression which  has  always  characterized  Friends  ; 
and  this,  notwithstanding  a  member  of  another 
Monthly  Meeting  who  accompanied  them,  spoke 
freely  and  without  any  interruption,  in  condemna- 
tion of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting.) 

The  committee  again  said,  that  from  what  they 
had  seen  and  heard,  they  were  induced  to  beUeve 


EXPOSITION. 


79 


that  a  separation  was  contemplated  on  the  part  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  in  which  event 
they  said  it  was  very  important  that  the  Society  should 
have  its  records,  and  gave  this  as  a  reason  for  ad- 
vising the  former  clerk  to  retain  them.  Regret 
was  expressed  by  the  meeting  that  the  committee 
should  again  allude  to  that  subject,  and  they  were 
reminded  of  the  great  inconsistency  and  improprie- 
ty of  such  a  course  ;  professing  to  be  laboring  to 
restore  unity  and  at  the  same  time  talking  about  a 
separation. 

The  committee  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur,  stated 
that  they  were  not  prepared  to  report  at  present. 
One  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  made  in- 
quiry whether  no  part  of  the  committee  were  rea- 
dy ;  upon  which  one  of  the  committee  stated,  that 
two  or  them  had  a  report  in  readiness. 

The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  advocated  the 
reading  of  this  report  of  two  out  of  a  committee  of 
nine,  but  the  meeting  decided  against  it. 

The  seven  members  of  the  committee  who  did 
not  sign  this  report  had  never  had  an  opportunity 
to  see  it,  this  introduction  of  it  to  the  meeting  being 
their  first  knowledge  of  it. 

Near  the  close  of  this  meeting,  that  member  of 
the  Committee  who  said  two  of  them  had  a  report 
in  readiness,  proposed  that  those  in  unity  with  the 
Yearly  Meeting,  and  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee and  their  doings,  be  requested  to  stop  in  the 
house  a  short  time,  at  the  close  of  the  meeting. 
With  this,  the  former  clerk  united,  and  wished  the 
same  request  made  to  the  women.  The  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  encouraged  and  approbated 
this  proposal,  but  the  meeting  generally  objected  to 
it,  on  the  ground  that  it  appeared  to  be  a  scheme  for 
a  separation,  which  it  was  hoped  would  not  receive 
any  encouragement,  and  objected  to  this  test  of 
unity  with  them,  as  an  improper  one,  fully  express- 
ing unity  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Society,  as  held 


80 


NARRATIVE  AND 


by  the  early  Friends,  choosing  rather  to  commit 
themselves  to  principles  than  to  men.  The  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  made  no  charge  of  unsound- 
ness against  any  ;  but  one  of  them  said  that  a  man 
might  be  entirely  sound  in  doctrine,  and  yet  be  very 
far  from  being  in  unity  with  the  Yearly  Meeting. 
The  judgment  of  the  meeting  was  fully  acquiesced 
in,  by  him  who  made  the  proposition,  upon  a  sug- 
gestion of  a  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, and  the  subject  was  passed  from. 

This  was  the  condition  of  things  relative  to  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  at  the  time  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting  in  the  eighth  month,  when  the  Yearly 
Meetings's  Committee  reported  it  in  a  state  of  disuni- 
ty, disorder  and  insubordination ;  and  a  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee  was  appointed  to  unite  with 
them  in  visiting  that  Monthly  Meeting,  while  the 
case  of  John  Wilbur,  about  which  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee  had  manifested  such  extreme  anxi- 
ty,  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  committee  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  w^ho  had  not  yet  reported. 

At  the  Monthly  Meeting  in  the  eighth  month, 
several  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  all 
the  committee  of  the  men's  Quarterly  Meeting  at- 
tended, and  claimed  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  were  incorporated  with  the  meeting, 
having  a  right  to  act  as  members,  and  to  advise  and 
assist  the  Monthly  Meeting,  and  that  the  meeting 
w^as  bound  to  act  according  to  their  advice,  even  to 
the  abrogation  of  its  recorded  acts  for  months  past 

The  Monthly  Meeting  did  not  allow  this  claim  ;  it 
expressed  its  willingness  to  hear  and  consider  what- 
ever advice  the  committee  might  offer,  and  give  it 
all  proper  weight,  but  claimed  the  right  to  exercise 
its  own  final  judgment  as  to  adopting  it;  acknow- 
ledging itself  responsible  to  the  Quarterly  and  Year- 
ly Sleetings  in  the  manner  and  form  prescribed  by 
the  Discipline,  for  any  breach  of  the  discipline  and 
order  of  Society. 


EXPOSITION, 


81 


Seven  of  the  committee  in  the  case  of  J.  W.  made 
the  following  report. 

"  To  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  of  Friends, 
to  he  held  at  Hopkinton,  the  22d  of  SthMo.,  1842. 

The  committee  appointed  by  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting,  to  treat  with  John  Wilbur,  on  account  of 
the  complaint  brought  against  him  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  have  attended  to  that  service  ;  ha\'ing 
given  notice  to  the  parties  of  the  time  and  place  of 
our  meeting  John  Wilbur,  and  several  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  attended,  and  were  heard  upon 
the  several  matters  contained  in  said  complaint. 

Upon  a  full  and  deliberate  investigation  of  the  case, 
our  judgment  is  that  the  charges  against  John  Wilbur, 
have  not  been  sustained ;  but  that  his  defence  is  suffi- 
cient to  exonerate  him  from  the  same  : — it  appearing 
from  the  evidence  brought  before  us,  that  the  complaint 
originated  on  account  of  John  Wilbur's  labors  under 
an  apprehension  of  his  rehgious  duty,  and  in  conform- 
ity with  our  Christian  discipline,  against  the  introduc- 
tion into  our  Society  of  defective  piinciples  and  doc- 
trines, and  for  the  preservation  of  those  ancient  testi- 
monies of  Truth,  committed  to  us  as  a  people.  We, 
therefore  recommend  that  the  complaint  against  him 
be  dismissed. 

Hopkinton,  8th  Mo.,  1842. 

Othniel  Foster, 
William  Nichols, 
John  Foster, 
Isaac  Collins, 
Joshua  Gardner,  Jr. 
Samuel  Sheffield, 
Charles  Perry." 

Two  of  the  committee  made  a  counter  report. 
The  consideration  of  the  first  was  then  entered  upon 
by  the  meeting,  and  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee advised  against  its  adoption. 

One  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  called  for 
4* 


82 


NARRATIVE  AND 


an  explanation  of  the  causes  which  led  that  commit- 
tee to  leave,  before  the  investigation  of  the  case  of  J. 
W.  v^as  concluded.  The  clerk  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting's  Committee  then  read  an  extract  from  the 
committee's  minutes,  giving  their  reasons  for  allow- 
ing him  to  go  into  an  investigation  of  doctrines  in  his 
defence.  These  reasons  were  not  attempted  to  he 
controverted  or  answered.  The  meeting  gave  a  very 
full  expression  in  favor  of  receiving  the  report  of  the 
committee,  four-fifths  of  the  number  of  those  who 
spoke  in  relation  to  it,  supporting  it,  and  at  its  final 
adoption  only  one  member  of  the  Monthly  Meeting 
spoke  decidedly  against  it.  The  meeting  deliberat- 
ed long  upon  the  subject,  hearing  all  the  committees 
had  to  say,  and  when  all  discussions  had  ceased, 
and  the  meeting  had  remained  some  time  in  silence, 
the  clerk  made  a  minute  accepting  the  report,  and  it 
was  sent  to  the  women's  meeting  for  their  conside- 
ration. The  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  united 
with  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  in  advising 
the  former  clerk  to  retain  the  records  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting. 

Before  the  report  was  returned  by  the  women, 
an  attempt  was  made  by  two  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  sitting  at  the  head  of  the  meeting, 
to  break  it  up,  but  it  was  not  successful,  and  the  re- 
port loas  united  with  by  the  women's  meeting. 

At  the  Monthly  Meeting  in  the  ninth  month  a 
committee  was  appointed  to  labor  with  T.  C.  C, 
the  former  clerk,  on  account  of  his  withholding  from 
the  Monthly  Meeting  its  records,  and  the  committee 
had  an  opportunity  with  him  on  that  account ;  after 
the  opportunity  was  ended,  he  informed  one  of  the 
committee  that  he  had  delivered  our  records  over  to 
the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  who  had  given 
him  a  receipt  for  them,  and  taken  them  away  out  of 
the  limits  of  our  Monthly  Meeting!  Thus,  by  this 
bold  depredation  upon  our  property,  effectually  de- 


EXPOSITION. 


83 


priving  our  members  of  the  right  secured  to  them  by 
the  DiscipHne,  of  having  access  to  our  records. 

At  the  Monthly  Meeting  in  the  10th  month,  four 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  attended 
and  presented  the  following  written  advice  to  the 
Monthly  Meeting. 

"  The  committee  appointed  by  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing to  visit  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  for 
other  services,  as  will  appear  by  the  minute  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  herewith  presented,  now  believe  it 
right  to  state  to  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  that 
having  taken  into  our  deliberate  consideration,  the  pro- 
ceedings of  that  meeting  in  the  8th  month  last ;  and 
other  previous  proceedings  connected  with  it  ;  which 
have  had  the  effect  to  produce  the  present  unhappy 
differences  existing  in  that  meeting,  and  the  state  of 
insubordination  in  which  it  now  is, — have  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  placing  of  Samuel  Sheffield,  at  the 
table,  to  act  as  Clerk  in  the  5th  month  last,  in  the  irreg- 
ular and  disorderly  manner  in  which  it  was  effected, 
and  by  which  procedure  the  feelings  and  views  of  many 
of  the  members  were  wholly  disregarded  ;  and  being 
satisfied  that  he  took  his  seat  at  the  table,  and  made 
the  minute  appointing  himself  out  of  the  usual  and 
long  established  order  of  said  meeting  in  appointing 
their  Clerk.  We  did  therefore  unite  with  the  advice 
previously  given  to  Timothy  C.  Collins,  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  that  he[should  continue  for  the 
present  to  retain  the  Records  of  that  Meeting. 

And  as  this  committee  were  also  fully  united  in  the 
advice  given  in  the  8th  month  last  to  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  not  to  accept  the  report  presented  by 
that  portion  of  the  committee,  five  of  whom  were  added 
(contrary  to  the  general  usage  of  our  Society,)  to  the 
committee  appointed  in  the  4th  month,  to  have  charge 
of  the  case  ;  after  Samuel  Sheffield  took  his  seat  at  the 
table  in  the  5th  month  ;  and  as  we  have  cause  to  ap- 
prehend from  the  manner  in  which  they  were  selected, 
and  from  iheir  relationship  to  the  indi\'idual  under 


84 


NARRATIVE  AND 


care,  it  was  with  a  view  to  prevent  an  impartial  exer- 
cise of  our  Christian  discipline. 

We,  therefore,  now  on  behalf  of  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing, advise  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  at  this 
time,  to  remove  Samuel  Sheffield  from  acting  as  Clerk, 
and  to  re-appoint  Timothy  C.  Collins  to  the  service,  to 
dismiss  the  case  of  Timothy  C.  Collins  from  their 
records,  and  discharge  the  committee  appointed  last 
month  to  visit  him  as  an  offender,  for  retaining  the 
records  of  said  meeting,  as  advised  to  do  by  this  com- 
mittee, and  likewise  that  the  decision  in  the  8th  month 
last,  as  entered  on  their  minutes  in  relation  to  John 
Wilbur,  against  the  judgment  of  concerned  friends  of 
that  meeting  and  against  the  united  advice  of  this  com- 
mittee, be  now  set  aside  and  be  made  void  and  of  no 
effect. 

Signed  by  the  committee  appointed  by  Rhode  Island 
Quarterly  Meeting  to  visit  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  and  advise  it  on  its  behalf. 

Asa  Sherman, 
Beriah  Collins, 
Joseph  Metcalf, 
Arnold  Congdon. 
Members  of  the  Committee  present. 
Hopkinton,  \Oth  Mo.,  24th,  1842. 

The  advice  having  been  tv^ice  read,  and  embrac- 
ing matters  of  great  moment,  and  wholly  unprece- 
dented, involving  not  only  the  rights  of  individuals, 
but  of  meetings,  it  was  proposed  to  refer  it  another 
month  for  consideration.  This  document  being 
dated  at  Hopkinton,  the  same  day,  those  present 
were  asked  if  the  whole  of  the  committee  were  con- 
sulted in  those  advices  ;  they  answered  in  the  nega- 
tive. On  enquiry  of  the  committee,  whether  they 
intended  to  ask  the  meeting  to  act  upon  it  without 
time  for  deliberation,  one  of  them  replied  he  thought 
it  reasonable  that  the  meeting  should  have  time  to 
consider  of  it.  But  afterwards  the  committee,  and 
a  few  members  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  advocated 


EXPOSITION. 


85 


the  immediate  compliance  of  the  meeting.  The 
subject  was,  however,  referred  for  further  conside- 
ration to  the  nexth  month. 

At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  held  at  Somerset,  3rd 
of  1 1th  month,  1842,  the  committee  appointed  at  last 
Quarterly  Meeting,  to  visit  South  Kingston  and 
Swanzey  Monthly  Meetings,  reported  that  they  had 
visited  Swanzey  Monthly  Meeting,  and  extended 
such  advice  as  appeared  necessary  ;  that  they  had 
also  visited  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  in  the 
eighth  month,  and  given  their  advice  in  relation  to 
the  business  of  that  meeting,  which  was  disregarded, 
they  continuing  to  manifest  a  spirit  of  insubordina- 
tion, &c.,  having  appointed  a  committee  to  deal  with 
their  former  clerk,  for  complying  w^ith  the  advice  of 
the  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meeting's  Committees  in 
retaining  the  records  of  that  meeting  ;  that  they  had 
also  again  visited  them  in  the  tenth  month  and  given 
them  advice  in  writing,  (here  reciting  their  advice  to 
the  Monthly  Meeting)  which  advice  was  not  accept- 
ed by  the  meeting,  but  they  referred  the  considera- 
tion of  it  another  month. 

In  conclusion,  they  gave  it  as  their  united  judg- 
ment, (as  near  as  recollected)  that  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  was  not  in  a  suitable  state  to  tran- 
sact business  as  a  Monthly  Meeting  in  conformity 
with  our  Christian  Discipline,  and  to  the  further- 
ance of  the  best  interests  of  Society,  and  therefore 
recommended  that  that  Monthly  Meeting  be  dis- 
solved, and  the  members  of  it  joined  to  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting. 

The  reading  of  the  Discipline  under  the  head  of 
Quarterly  Meetings  was  called  for  by  a  member  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  urged  by 
many  Friends,  and  for  a  considerable  time  refus- 
ed, during  which  time  several  united  with  the  re- 
port. 

At  length,  after  much  importunity  the  Discipline 
was  read,  and  it  having  been  shown  that  the  adop- 


86 


NARRATIVE  AND 


tion  of  the  report  would  be  a  direct  violation  of  it, 
some  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  said  a 
wrong  construction  was  put  upon  the  Discipline,  but 
did  not  attempt  to  point  out  in  what  particulars. 

Many  Friends  spoke  against  the  adoption  of  the 
report,  insomuch  that  the  meeting  appeared  nearly 
equally  divided;  but  a  disposition  being  plainly 
manifested  to  adopt  the  report,  some  of  the  members 
of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  strongly  re- 
monstrated against  the  summary  dissolution  of  that 
meeting  and  joining  it  to  another,  as  a  violation  of 
the  plain  provisions  of  the  Discipline,  and  asked  for 
an  opportunity  to  he  heard  before  a  committee,  or  in 
some  other  mode,  before  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
should  proceed  to  this  extremity.  This  was  denied. 
It  was  then  stated  on  the  part  of  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting,  that  if  no  other  opportunity 
was  to  be  afforded  they  should  now  be  obliged  to 
make  a  statement  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Yearly 
and  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committees  in  that  Month- 
ly Meeting,  for  the  information  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  before  it  should  act  in  so  important  a  case. 
Such  opportunity  being  denied,  one  of  the  represen- 
tatives from  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  rose 
to  read  such  statements  ;  when  he  was  peremptorily 
directed  by  the  clerk  to  "  take  his  seat  and  put  up 
his  paper,"  but  he  continued  to  stand,  and  amidst 
great  interruption,  to  plead  for  the  privilege  and  the 
right  to  be  heard.  The  clerk,  hov/ever,  who  was 
himself  an  active  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  read  the  minute  dissolving  the  Monthly 
Meeting.* 

By  the  provisions  of  the  minute,  South  Kingston 


♦  It  may  be  here  remarked,  that  in  this  meeting  the  principal  and 
almost  entire  actors  and  managers  in  this  case  against  the  Monthly 
Meeting,  were  members  of  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee,  who  have  been  so  often  alluded  to,  in  the  preceding 
pages. 


EXPOSITION. 


87 


Monthly  Meeting  is  dissolved,  and  the  members 
thereof  annexed  to  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting. 
It  provides  that  the  books  be  delivered  to  some  per- 
son to  be  appointed  by  Greenwich  Monthly  Meet- 
ing to  receive  them,  and  that  all  unfinished  business 
be  closed  by  that  Monthly  Meeting.  It  declares 
null  and  void  the  appointment  of  the  addition  to  the 
committee,  in  the  fifth  month,  in  the  case  of  John 
Wilbur,  and  the  adoption  of  the  report  in  his  case ; 
also  all  that  has  been  done  in  the  case  of  Timothy 
C.  Collins.  It  continues  the  same  committee,  with 
instructions  to  visit  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, next  to  be  held  at  Hopkinton,  and  there  to  read 
to  that  meeting  this  minute  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting, 
and  advise  those  assembled  quietly  to  separate,  and 
hereafter  to  consider  themselves  members  of  Green- 
wich Monthly  Meeting,  and  under  its  care  ;  and  the 
committee  is  authorized  and  directed  to  extend  its 
care  over  all  the  Monthly  Meetings  in  the  Quarter. 

When  the  clerk  had  concluded  reading  the 
minute,  the  said  representative,  w^ho  had  remained 
standing,  stated  that  he  felt  it  to  be  due,  both  to 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  to  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting,  to  read  the  statement,  although  the 
dissolution  had  been  consummated,  and  he  proceed- 
ed to  read. 

At  first  his  voice  was  nearly  drowned  by  the 
noise  and  confusion  in  the  house,  much  of  which 
proceeded  from  members  of  the  Yearly  and  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committees.  The  clerk  attempted 
to  proceed  with  the  business,  sending  the  minute 
into  the  woman's  meeting,  &c.  The  noise,  how- 
ever, soon  nearly  subsided,  and  most  of  the  reading 
was  pretty  well  heard.  When  the  paper  was  about 
half  read,  the  person  reading  was  requested  to  stop 
in  order  to  have  a  passage  read  from  the  Discipline, 
but  this  he  declined,  and  continued  the  reading  until 
it  was  finished. 

After  he  had  concluded,  the  clerk  read  from  the 


88 


NARRATIVE  AND 


Discipline,  page  154,  which  advises  against  the 
reading  of  any  papers,  except  such  as  are  from  im- 
mediate correspondents,  w^ithout  their  first  being 
examined  by  a  committee.  The  Friend  w^ho  had 
read  the  paper  said  he  had  no  intention  to  violate 
the  Discipline,  but  he  considered  the  reading  of  the 
statement  justifiable  under  the  extraordinary  cir- 
cumstances of  the  case.* 

About  ten  days  after  the  Quarterly  Meeting  the 
representative  who  read  the  statement  in  that  meet- 
ing, v^^as  informed  by  a  young  man,  a  member  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting',  that  he  met  at 
Friend's  School,  Providence,  one  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  alluded  to  in  the  folio  wring 
passage  from  the  statement,  viz  : 

*'  Before  the  report  was  returned  by  the  women,  an 
attempt  was  made  by  two  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  sitting  at  the  head  of  the  meeting,  to  break 
it  up,  but  it  was  not  successful,  and  the  report  was  re- 
turned united  with  by  the  women's  meeting." 


*  The  reading  cf  this  paper  was  thought  to  be  justifiable  for  seve- 
ral reasons.  First,  it  was  the  only  opportunity  left  for  a  hearing; 
secondly,  a  Monthly  Meeting  is  required  by  the  Discipline,  page 
43,  when  the  Quarterly  meeting  is  dissatisfied  with  any  of  its  pro- 
ceedings, to  render  a  satisfactory  account  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting. 
Now,  the  Monthly  Meeting  being  debarred  from  rendering  such  an 
account,  it  must  be  done  by  individuals,  if  done  at  all,  and  was  done 
by  one  of  the  representatives.  The  whole  proceedings  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting  were  most  irregular  and  disorderly,  depriving  the 
Monthly  Meeting  at  once  of  all  its  rights,  and  even  of  its  existence. 
A  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  had  been  allowed 
to  comment  on  the  proceeding  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  with  great 
severity,  misrepresenting  and  condemning  the  Monthly  Meeting  as 
a  whole,  and  personally  reproaching  and  reviling  a  member  of  it  in 
particular.  It  was  felt  to  be  right,  under  these  circumstances,  to 
make  a  plain  statement  of  facts  before  the  meeting  separated.  The 
written  statepient  was  read  only  because  it  was  more  strictly  ac- 
curate, and  more  concise,  than  could  have  been  made  verbally ;  and 
the  character  of  it  was  distinctly  stated  before  it  was  read.  The 
statement  read  was  substantially  the  same  now  published,  begin- 
ning with  the  4th  month  and  ending  with  the  10th  month,  1843. 


EXPOSITION. 


89 


This  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
took  him,  the  young  man,  aside,  and  told  him  that 
this  part  of  the  statement  was  false,  that  they  had 
no  thought  of  such  a  thing,  and  requested  him  to 
correct  this  mis-statement.  On  receiving  this  infor- 
mation the  representative  aforesaid  wrote  this  mem- 
ber of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  asking  him 
for  some  explanation,  as  the  attempt  alluded  to  pass- 
ed under  his  own  eye,  and  was,  besides,  susceptible 
of  full  proof  by  others.  The  propriety  of  calling 
upon  the  person  who  had  made  the  statement,  to 
correct  it  if  it  was  claimed  to  be  erroneous,  was 
brought  to  view  in  this  letter,  the  writer  holding 
himself  fully  responsible  for  it.  No  reply  was  made 
to  the  letter. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
Greenwich,  2d  of  1st  month,  1843,  the  representa- 
tive aforesaid,  taking  two  or  three  Friends  with  him,- 
sought  an  interview  with  both  members  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  implicated  in  the 
charge.  The  matter  being  opened  they  both  denied 
having  done  any  such  thing,  or  having  had  any  idea 
of  it.  A  certificate  was  then  read  of  their  denial, 
from  the  young  man  who  first  gave  information  of 
it,  which  was  acknowledged  to  be  essentially  cor- 
rect. This  was  followed  by  certificates  from  five 
individuals,  (two  have  since  been  added)  who  testi- 
fied that  they  saw  the  two  friends  in  question  sit- 
ting at  the  head  of  the  meeting,  at  Hopkinton,  in  the 
eighth  month,  shake  hands  in  the  common  form  of 
breaking  up  a  meeting  among  Friends,  while  the 
report  of  the  committee  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur 
was  under  consideration  in  the  women's  meet- 
ing ;  but  just  as  this  was  done,  and  before  there 
was  time  for  any  others  to  follow,  the  women  re- 
turned the  report,  and  the  meeting  remained  some 
time  longer  together.  In  addition  to  this  was  the 
testimony  of  several  Friends,  that  both  before  and 
after  the  act  of  shaking  hands,  they  saw  movements 


00 


NARRATIVE  AND 


on  the  part  of  the  two  Friends  in  question  which 
left  no  doubts  on  their  minds,  that  they  intended 
prematurely  to  break  up  the  meeting.  After  this 
testimony  was  read  they  continued  to  deny  the 
act,  although  one  of  them  seemed  to  wish  to  soften 
things  somewhat ;  said  he  could  recollect  nothing 
about  it,  but  if  they  did  shake  hands,  it  must  be  they 
thought  meeting  was  through ;  but  the  one  who  first 
made  the  denial  said  it  could  not  be  so,  they  could 
not  have  forgotten  if  they  had  done  it.  Being  ask- 
ed, after  all  the  testimony  which  had  been  adduced, 
to  retract  his  charge  of  falsehood,  he  said  "  he  had 
nothing  to  retract,"  and  thus  the  matter  was  left. 
The  certificates  alluded  to  are  as  follows  : 

CERTIFICATE  OP  ABEL  C.  MONROE. 

**  This  may  certify  that  I  was  at  Friend's  Boarding 
School,  in  Providence,  on  the  4th  of  11th  month  last, 
on  my  return  from  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  held  at 
Somerset,  the  previous  day ;  and  there  met  with  Thos. 
Anthony,  who  asked  me  if  I  lived  at  my  grandmother's 
now; — I  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and  he  then  asked 
to  speak  with  me,  and  we  stepped  to  the  door,  (in  the 
porch.)  Thomas  then  said,  that  the  statement  made  in 
the  paper  read  in  Quarterly  Meeting,  in  relation  to  the 
attempt  to  break  up  the  Monthly  Meeting,  at  Hopkin- 
ton,  was  false ; — that  he  and  Rowland  Greene  had  no 
thought  of  such  a  thing.  He  said  he  wished  me  to 
correct  this  mis-statement ;  that  he  thought  it  no  more 
than  right  that  it  should  be  corrected. 

(Signed,)  A.  C.  Monroe. 

1st  Mo.,  1,  1848. 


HoPKiNTON,  12tm  Mo.  25th,  1842. 
"  We  hereby  certify,  that  at  the  Monthly  Meeting 
of  Friends,  held  at  Hopkinton,  on  the  22d  of  8th  month 
last,  while  the  report  of  the  committee  in  the  case  of 
John  Wilbur,  was  in  the  hands  of  the  women's  meet- 
ing, we  saw  Rowland  Greene  and  Thomas  Anthony, 
then  sitting  at  the  head  of  the  meeting,  shake  hands 


EXPOSITION. 


91 


after  the  manner  of  Friends  when  breaking  up  a  meet- 
ing ;  but  just  at  that  moment,  before  there  was  time 
for  others  to  follow,  the  women  returned  the  report, 
and  the  meeting  remained  some  time  longer  together. 
(Signed,) 

Isaiah  Ray, 
Ethan  Foster, 
Charles  Perry, 
William  Foster, 
John  Peckham, 
John  W.  Collins." 


"  I  hereby  certify,  that  at  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  held  at  Hopkinton,  on  the  22d  of  8th  month, 
1842  ;  that  whilst  the  report  of  the  committee  was  in 
the  women's  meeting,  I  saw  Rowland  Greene  and 
Thomas  Anthony  shake  hands,  in  the  common  form  of 
breaking  up  a  meeting  among  Friends. 

(Signed,)  Peleg  Kenyon.** 

12th  Mo,  2Si/i,  1842. 


Westerly,  12th  Month  30,  1842. 
*'I  hereby  certify  that  in  addition  to  the  act  of  sha- 
king hands  as  described  in  the  foregoing  certificates,  I 
saw  movements  on  the  part  of  Rowland  Greene  and 
Thomas  Anthony,  in  the  meeting  alluded  to,  both  be- 
fore and  after  that  act,  and  before  the  business  was 
concluded,  or  the  minutes  read,  such  as  left  no  doubt 
on  my  mind  of  their  design  to  break  up  the  meeting." 

(signed,)  Ethan  Foster. 

Westerly,  12th  Month  30,  1842. 
"  I  hereby  certify  that  I  saw  a  movement  on  the 
part  of  Rowland  Greene  and  Thomas  Anthony  in  the 
Monthly  Meeting  at  Hopkinton,  in  the  8ih  month  last, 
after  the  report  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur  was  re- 
turned by  the  women,  such  as  satisfied  me  they  intend- 
ed to  break  up  the  meeting.  And  fearing  from  these 
repeated  attempts,  that  the  meeting  might  be  prema- 
turely dismissed,  I  spoke  of  our  practice  to  read  the 
minutes  before  the  meeting  separated,  and  hoped  that 


NARRATIVE  AND 


we  should  conform  to  that  usage ;  which  was  after- 
wards done." 

(Signed,)  Charles  Perry. 


Westerly,  12th  Month  30th,  1842. 
"We  hereby  certify  that  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  of 
Friends,  held  at  Hopkinton  on  22d  of  8th  month  last, 
we  saw  movements  made  by  Rowland  Greene  and 
Thomas  Anthony,  about  the  time  the  report  in  the  case 
of  John  Wilbur  was  leturned  from  the  women's  meet- 
ing, and  before  the  business  of  the  meeting  was  con- 
cluded, or  the  minutes  of  it  read,  which  left  no  doubt 
on  our  minds  that  they  attempted  and  intended  them 
to  break  up  the  meeting." 

(Signed,)  John  Foster, 

Thomas  Perry, 
Isaac  Collins. 


"  I  hereby  certify  that  at  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
Hopkinton,  in  the  eighth  month  last,  I  sat  on  the  seat 
directly  before  Rowland  Greene  and  Thomas  Anthony, 
and  that  I  heard  Thomas  ask  the  clerk  if  the  business 
was  not  through  ;  to  which  the  clerk  replied  there 
would  be  business  from  the  women  ;  and  I  then  dis- 
tinctly heard  Rowland  say,  *  We  shall  have  nothing 
more  from  the  women,'  and  turning  my  head,  I  saw 
motions  on  their  part  which  appeared  like  shaking 
hands; — at  this  juncture  the  door  opened,  and  the 
women  returned  the  report  united  with  by  their  meet- 
ing." (Signed,)  Thomas  Foster. 

1st  Month  2nd,  1843. 

At  the  Monthly  Meeting  held  at  Hopkinton  on 
the  21st  of  11th  month,  1842,  several  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committee  attended,  and  read  the 
minute  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  dissolving  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  both  in  the  men's  and 
women's  meetings,  and  advised  the  members  in  the 
language  of  that  minute,  "  quietly  to  separate,  and 
consider  themselves  members  of  Greenwich  Month- 


EXPOSITION. 


93 


ly  Meeting,  and  under  its  care;"  whereupon  they 
withdrew,  and  eleven  members  of  each  meeting 
with  them.  Before  they  left,  application  was  made 
to  them  on  behalf  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  for  a  copy  of  the  minute  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting,  but  they  declined  giving  one. 

The  MonthTy~1Meeting  continued  together,  and 
concluded  to  appeal  to  the  next  Yearly  Meeting, 
against  the  decision  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  ;  and 
then,  notwithstanding  the  injustice  and  irregularity 
of  the  requirement,  it  was  concluded  to  suspend  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  until  the  Yearly  Meeting  shall 
have  acted  on  the  appeal.  The  following  is  a  copy 
of  the  minute  of  appeal : 

"  The  document  presented  to  our  last  Monthly 
Meeting,  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  and 
then  referred,  coming  now  under  consideration,  and  no- 
tice beings  now  received  through  that  committee  and 
our  representatives,  that  our  Quarterly  Meeting  has 
sanctioned  the  edvice  therein  contained,  and  has  also 
proceeded  at  once  to  dissolve  this  meeting,  and  join 
the  members  of  it  to  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  as 
well  as  to  annul  a  portion  of  the  business  heretofore 
done,  and  recorded  by  this  meeting  ;  we  have  come  to 
the  conclusion  to  appeal  to  our  next  Yearly  Meeting 
against  the  advice  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee, and  the  judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in 
confirming  it,  as  not  being  in  accordance  with  the  prop- 
er maintenance  of  the  discipline  and  our  ancient 
TJhristian  testimonies.  We  also  appeal  against  the 
decision  of  our  said  Quarterly  Meeting,  dissolving  this 
meeting  and  the  Select  Meeting,  and  their  junction 
with  those  of  Greenwich,  as  uncalled  for  by  any  pro- 
ceeding of  ours,  and  in  its  manner  premature,  and  in 
plain  N-iolation  of  our  discipline. 

"  And  we  also  appeal  against  such  other  decrees  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  as  go  to  annul  or  affect  the 
rights,  or  property,  or  duties  of  this  meeting,  as  granted 
to  it,  or  conferred  upon  it,  and  required  of  it,  by  the 


94 


NARRATIVE  AND 


Yearly  Meeting,  as  set  forth  in  our  rules  of  discipline  ; 
and  Othniel  Foster,  John  Wilbur,  John  Foster  of 
Charlestown,  Charles  Perry,  Isaac  Collins,  John  Fos- 
ter of  Hopkinton,  Ethan  Foster,  Samuel  Sheffield  and 
Elisha  Kenyon,  are  appointed  to  represent  this  meeting 
and  to  act  on  its  behalf,  in  prosecuting  this  appeal  be- 
fore the  Yearly  Meeting,  or  such  committee  as  it  shall 
appoint  to  hear  the  same,  and  our  clerk  is  directed  to 
furnish  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  the  committee  of  this  meeting, 
named  above,  with  copies  of  this  minute  ;  having  the 
unity  of  the  women's  meeting  herein." 

Extracted  from  the  minutes  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  held  at  Hopkinton,  21st  of  11th 
month,  1842. 

(Signed,)       Samuel  Sheffield,  Clerk. 


"  And  we  the  undersigned  do  also  for  ourselves,  and 
on  behalf  and  in  the  name  of  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting,  or  otherwise  called  the  late  Monthly 
Meeting  of  South  Kingston,  and  on  behalf  of  the  mem- 
bers thereof,  appeal  to  our  next  Yearly  Meeting, 
against  the  judgment  of  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing, held  at  Somerset,  3d  of  11th  month,  1842,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  dissolution  of  said  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  and  reference  is  hereby  made  to  the  foregoing 
document,  signed  by  Samuel  Sheffield,  clerk  of  said 
Monthly  Meeting,  for  the  manner  and  form  of  this  our 
appeal,  to  be  presented  to  our  next  Quarterly  Meeting, 
and  to  our  next  Yearly  Meeting  ;  and  the  same  Friends 
as  named  above,  are  appointed  by  the  signers  of  this 
paper,  to  represent  them  in  the  prosecution  of  this  ap- 
peal." 

(This  appeal  was  signed  by  eighty-two  members  of 
the  Monthly  Meeting.) 

Two  of  the  Committee  of  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting  on  the  appeal,  attended  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting,  held  at  Cranston,  in  the  11th 
month,  and  laid  a  copy  of  the  appeal  on  the  clerk's 
table.    The  meeting  did  not  seem  disposed  to  re- 


EXPOSITION. 


95 


ceive  it ;  the  clerk  attempted  to  return  it  to  the 
person  who  had  placed  it  upon  the  table,  but  he  de- 
clining to  take  it  back,  the  clerk  finally  kept  it.  The 
minute  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  by  which  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  is  dissolved  and  joined 
to  Greenwich,  was  read  and  acceded  to  on  the  part 
of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting. 

At  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  held  at  East 
Greenwich,  2d  of  1st  month,  1843,  two  members  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  one  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  besides  those  be- 
longing to  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  attended. 

A  committee  being  about  to  be  appointed  to  bring 
in  names  for  new  overseers,  &c.,  including  those 
for  the  preparative  meetings  heretofore  constituting 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting ;  it  was  proposed 
and  concluded  that  the  clerk  should  not  take  the 
name  of  any  person  on  the  committee,  that  he 
should  conscientiously  believe  not  to  be  in  unity  with 
the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meetings  and  their  com- 
mittees. 

One  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  request- 
ed that  the  minute  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  be 
again  read,  which  was  done.  He  then  said  it  would 
be  seen  by  this  minute  that  the  appointment  of  a 
part  of  the  committee,  and  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur,  were  annulled, 
and  that  it  now  became  the  duty  of  the  committee 
originally  appointed,  to  report  to  this  meeting. 

One  of  the  two  of  that  committee  who  made  the 
counter  report  in  the  eighth  month,  enquired  if  it 
would  not  be  proper  for  them  to  have  another  in- 
terview with  John  Wilbur,  and  this  was  concluded 
on.  Objection  was  made  to  this  proceeding,  on  the 
ground  that  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  had 
appealed  from  the  decision  of  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing ;  that  the  action  against  that  meeting  w^as  solely 
in  consequence  of  its  decision  in  the  case  of  John 
Wilbur ; — that  case  was  specified  and  fully  brought 


96 


NARRATIVE  AND 


to  view,  in  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee's 
advice  and  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  minute,  and  the 
appeal  ought  to  stay  all  proceedings  in  the  case, 
until  the  Yearly  Meeting  should  decide  it.  This 
just  and  reasonable  ground  was  not  allowed,  but  a 
member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  who 
had  from  the  first  been  very  active  in  the  case,  said 
that  the  appeal  and  this  case  were  distinct  matters. 
Another  member  of  the  same  committee  urged,  that 
if  that  Monthly  Meeting  intended  to  be  subordinate 
to  superior  meetings,  it  must,  as  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  had  directed,  close  the  unfinished  business 
of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  this  case 
was  particularly  mentioned  and  brought  before 
them  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  minute.  It  had 
annulled  the  proceedings  of  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting  in  the  case. 

It  was  replied,  that  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  had  appealed  against  all  this,  and  that  it 
would  only  be  proper  for  the  Monthly  Meeting  to 
carry  out  the  direction  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting, 
after  the  Yearly  Meeting  had  decided  that  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  had  done  right, — when  a  member 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  said,  as  to 
this  matter  of  appeal,  there  were  some  doubt  tvhether 
there  was  any  such  meeting  as  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  when  the  appeal  was  made  !  thus 
striking  at  the  right  of  appeal.  This  ground,  how- 
ever, was  not  maintained,  and  afterwards  a  member 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  said  he  did  not 
suppose  this  Friend  meant  to  call  in  question  the 
right  of  appeal.    He  said  no  ! 

A  minute  was  made  directing  the  committee  in 
the  case  of  J.  W.,  to  report  at  a  future  meeting. 

At  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  held  at  Coven- 
try, 30th  of  1st  month,  1843,  three  members  of  the 
^^^^^  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  attended,  besides 
those  belonging  to  that  meeting.  The  case  of  John 
Wilbur  was  taken  up,  and  one  of  the  committee  ap- 


EXPOSITION. 


97 


pointed  in  the  fourth  month  by  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  stated  that  two  of  them  had  met, 
having  .given  notice  of  the  meeting  to  the  others, 
and  also  to  John  Wilbur,  that  the  latter  might  be 
present,*  if  he  saw  fit,  and  make  an  acknowledg- 
ment— but  he  refused  to  attend.  These  two  mem- 
bers of  the  committee  made  the  following  report,  to 
wit: 

**  We,  of  the  committee  appointed  in  the  4th  month 
last,  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur  report :  that  we  have 
attended  to  the  duties  assigned  us,  by  meeting  John 
Wilbur  and  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and 
hearing  the  evidence  in  the  case,  and  which  was  in  our 
judgment  sufficient  to  substantiate  all  the  charges  pre- 
ferred against  him,  and  which  charges,  having  relation 
altogether  to  his  departure  from  discipline  and  good 
order,  it  was  evident  to  us  his  defence  ought  to  be  pre- 
dicated on  that  ground  alone.  And  whereas  the  other 
part  of  the  ]Monthly  INIeeting's  Committee,  were  wil- 
ling to  allow  him  to  make  his  defence,  by  leaving  this 
only  legitimate  ground,  and  go  into  a  justification  of 
his  conduct  by  allusions  to  doctrines,  and  which  in  our 
view  was  entirely  foreign  to  the  subject  matter  under 
consideration.  We,  therefore,  felt  ourselves  bound  to 
dissent  from  such  a  course.  And  it  is  our  united  sense 
and  judgment  that  he  is  not  in  a  situation  and  state  of 
mind,  to  be  continued  a  member  of  our  relisrious  socie- 
ty,  which  we  submit  to  the  Monthly  Meeting. 

William  S.  Perry, 
Hezekiaii  Babcock. 

South  Kingston,  1th  Mo.  23d,  ia42." 

This  report  was  in  the  same  words  as  that  pre- 
sented by  the  same  persons,  to  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  in  the  eighth  month,  except  that 


*  This  was  incorrect ;  he  was  not  asked  to  be  present,  bat  merely 
notified,  by  letter,  of  the  time  of  their  meeting,  and  iuforqied  that 
he  raiffbt  send  in  an  acknowledgmeut,  if  so  disposed. 

5 


98 


NARRATIVE  AND 


in  the  latter  the  word  "  all"  occurred  before  the 
words  "the  charges." 

The  meeting  being  now  about  to  act  upon  the  re- 
port; some  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
uniting  therewith,  it  was  stated  that  the  complaint 
against  J.  W.  had  never  been  read  in  that  Monthly 
Meeting — and  upon  enquiry  it  was  found  that  the 
complaint  was  not  now  present  in  the  meeting. 

The  clerk  sent  a  messenger  for  it,  and  the  meet- 
ing suspended  further  proceedings  in  the  case,  until 
his  return. 

When  the  complaint  was  brought  in,  it  was  read, 
and  the  report  of  the  committee  was  then  united  with 
by  most  or  all  the  members  of  the  Yearly  and  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committees  present,  and  two  others. 

Objection  was  made  to  the  report  by  several 
Friends,  but  the  clerk,  an  active  member  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  made  a  minute  adopt- 
ing it,  and  John  Wilbur  was  tints  disowned. 

At  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting  held  at  Pro- 
vidence, in  the  2d  month,  1843,  one  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  on  their 
appeal,  laid  a  copy  of  the  appeal  on  the  clerk's  ta- 
ble, in  the  early  part  of  the  meeting,  and  after  a 
time  the  clerk  stated  that  there  was  a  paper  on  the 
table  purporting  to  be  an  appeal  from  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting,  and  asked  for  the  direction  of 
the  meeting,  as  to  what  disposition  should  be  made 
of  it.  It  was  proposed  to  appoint  some  Friends  to 
take  it  and  examine  it,  and  report  whether  it  should 
be  read.  The  reading  of  the  discipline  relating  to 
such  appeals  was  called  for,  but  the  committee  was 
first  appointed,  and  after  they  had  taken  the  appeal 
out  for  examination,  considerable  profession  was 
made  of  willingness  to  have  the  discipline  read,  and 
it  was  then  done.  Shortly  after,  the  committee  re- 
turned the  appeal,  and  recommended  that  it  be 
read;  which  being  done,  the  clerk  said  Friends 
would  observe,  that  there  was  the  name  of  a  Friend 


EXPOSITION. 


99 


on  the  Committee  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  on  the 

appeal,  who  had  been  placed  under  dealing  by  the 
action  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting.  He  said  the 
meeting  would  decide  whether  they  would  allow 
that  name  to  stand  there,  in  case  the  appeal  should 
go  on  their  minutes. 

After  considerable  discussion,  in  which  the  in- 
justice and  incompatibility  with  the  discipline,  of  the 
act  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  was  shown, — the 
clerk  made  a  minute  stating  in  substance,  that  al- 
though the  appeal  contained  the  name  of  a  Friend, 

E laced  under  dealing  by  the  action  of  the  Quarterly 
leeting,  we  have  concluded  to  enter  it  upon  our 
minutes,  and  send  it  up  to  our  next  Yearly  Meeting. 

One  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  corrected 
the  clerk  as  to  the  latter  clause,  saying  that  the 
conclusion  of  the  meeting  was,  to  refer  the  consid- 
eration of  it  until  next  quarter,  whereupon  he  made 
that  alteration.  The  same  member  of  that  com- 
mittee proposed  that  the  word  "  individual"  should 
be  substituted  for  "  Friend,"  and  the  clerk  at  once 
made  the  change. 

While  the  appeal  was  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
mittee, a  member  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  (one  of  the  committee  on  the  appeal,)  sta- 
ted that  at  the  time  that  Monthly  Meeting  was  dis- 
solved, a  request  was  made  of  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  then  present,  for  a  copy  of  the 
minute  authorizing  the  dissolution,  but  it  was  re- 
fused ;  that  since  then  application  has  been  made 
to  the  clerk  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  for  a  copy, 
who  also  refused  it,  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not 
authorized  to  give  it,  without  the  authority  of  that 
meeting.  He  now  requested  of  the  meeting,  on 
behalf  of  the  committee  on  the  appeal,  a  copy  of 
that  minute. 

A  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
said  that  the  meeting  had  not  come  to  any  conclu- 
sion, as  to  the  disposition  of  the  appeal ;  he  thought 


100 


NARRATIVE  AND 


it  proper  to  wait  until  that  was  decided  on,  and 
then  the  subject  might  be  taken  up.  The  Friend 
who  made  the  request,  expressed  his  satisfaction 
with  that  course.  Afterwards,  when  the  appeal 
had  been  referred  to  the  next  quarter,  the  clerk 
being  about  to  proceed  to  other  business,  application 
was  renewed  on  behalf  of  South  Kingston  Monthly- 
Meeting,  for  a  copy  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
minute,  but  it  was  refused,  a  member  of  the  Yearly- 
Meeting's  Committee  saying,  that  he  thought  it  im- 
proper to  give  a  copy !  that  it  would  be  sufficient 
for  them  to  furnish  the  Yearly  Meeting  with  a 
copy  !  and  this  being  sustained  by  other  members 
of  the  same  committee,  the  meeting  proceeded  with 
other  business ;  thus  denying  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  a  copy  of  the  document  by  which 
it  had  been  dissolved,  containing  matters  of  the 
greatest  importance  relative  to  their  case. 

[It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  all  who  took  ground 
in  this  meeting,  against  furnishing  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  with  a  copy  of  this  document, 
were  members  of  the  Yearly  or  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committees,  most  of  them  the  same  men  who 
had  been  so  active  in  the  case  of  John  Wilbur  from 
the  beginning.] 

At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  held  at  Greenwich  in 
the  5th  month,  1843,  the  account  from  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting  informed,  that  John  Wilbur  hav- 
ing given  them  notice  of  his  intention  to  appeal 
from  their  judgment  disowning  him,  they  had  ap- 
pointed a  committee  to  represent  the  case  before  a 
Committee  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting.  It  was  stated 
on  behalf  of  John  Wilbur,  that  he  did  not  intend  to 
prosecute  his  appeal  at  that  time. 

Representatives  were  appointed  to  attend  the 
Yearly  Meeting,  one  of  whom  asked  to  be  excused, 
which  being  done,  another  was  named  in  his  place, 
but  being  obnoxious  to  those  in  authority,  his  name 


EXPOSITION. 


101 


was  rejected,  upon  the  pretence  that  there  were  al- 
ready enough  appointed. 

The  minute  of  the  last  meeting,  relating  to  the 
appeal  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  was 
read.  A  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee spoke  of  the  great  strait  he  was  in,  on  ac- 
count of  the  name  of  an  individual,  standing  as  one 
of  the  committee  on  the  appeal,  who  had  been 
placed  under  dealing  by  the  action  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  ;  and  said  he  did  not  see  how  the  appeal 
could  be  carried  forward  in  its  present  shape. 
Another  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee expressed  himself  in  a  similar  manner. 

A  Friend  remarked  if  this  was  the  case,  Green- 
wich Monthly  Meeting  might  have  disowned  all 
the  members  of  the  appeal  committee,  and  thus 
have  defeated  it  altogether.  Another  Friend  said 
he  thought  the  minute  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
carried  its  own  condemnation  on  the  face  of  it, 
stating  as  it  did  that  an  individual  was  placed  un- 
der dealing  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting  ;  he  knew 
no  discipline  to  warrant  such  a  thing. 

The  clerk  said  he  was  ready  to  propose  that  this 
appeal  should  he  again  referred !  A  Friend  from 
South  Kingston  said  the  appeal  was  made  to  the 
next  Yearly  Meeting,  and  to  refer  it  again  would 
defeat  the  appeal. 

It  was  now  concluded  to  appoint  a  committee  to 
represent  the  case  at  the  Yearly  Meeting, — pre- 
mising that  none  should  be  appointed,  who  did  not 
unite  with  the  proceedings  in  laying  the  Monthly 
Meeting  down. 

The  following  persons  were  appointed,  viz : 

Perez  Peck,  Allen  Wing,  Beriah  Collins,  Joseph 
Metcalf,  Nicholas  Congdon,  Arnold  Congdon,  Wil- 
Kam  S.  Perry  and  William  A.  Robinson.  By  the 
minute  of  their  appointment,  the  clerk  is  directed  to 
furnish  them,  with  all  needful  extracts  from  the 
minutes. 


103 


NARRATIVE  AND 


The  committee  on  the  appeal  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  made  application  in  writing  for 
access  to  the  records  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting, 
with  a  view  to  the  timely  preparation  of  the  case  ; 
referring  to  the  discipline,  "  that  our  records  shall 
be  open  to  any  of  our  meetings,  particular  members, 
and  to  such  others  as  the  respective  Monthly  Meet- 
ings may  think  necessary,  for  the  ascertaining  of 
marriages,  births,  or  other  rights^  page  43. 

This  request,  after  considerable  discussion,  waa[ 
refused  ;  and  much  severity  of  expression  was  in- 
dulged in  towards  the  applicants  ;  after  which  a 
member  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  rose, 
and  very  calmly  commenced  speaking, — when  a 
large  number  of  persons  in  the  body  of  the  meeting 
rose  and  hurried  out  of  the  house,  those  at  the  head 
of  the  meeting  shook  hands,  and  it  broke  up  in  the 
greatest  confusion  and  disorder. 

The  voice  of  the  person  speaking  was  entirely 
drowned  by  the  noise,  and  perceiving  the  meeting 
really  breaking  up,  he  desisted. 

At  New  England  Yearly  Meeting,  held  on  Rhode 
Island,  6th  month,  1843. 

It  appeared  from  the  account  of  Rhode  Island 
Quarterly  Meeting,  that  a  portion  of  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting,  late  members  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  had  appealed  from  their  judgment 
dissolving  said  Monthly  Meeting  and  annexing  the 
same  to  Greenwich,  and  that  they  had  appointed 
Perez  Peck  and  others  to  represent  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  before  a  Committee  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
to  be  appointed  to  hear  the  appeal. 

When  this  case  came  up,  the  clerk  read  the  dis- 
cipline relating  to  such  appeal,  and  remarked  that 
it  had  been  customary  in  cases  of  appeal  to  appoint 
a  committee  of  two  Friends  from  each  Quarterly 
Meeting,  but  proposed  in  this  case  the  appointment 
of  three  from  each  Quarter,  which  was  united 
with. 


EXPOSITION. 


lOS 


On  behalf  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  a 
desire  was  expressed  to  have  the  case  tried  in  open 
Yearly  Meeting,  for  the  full  information  of  the 
members  generally  before  acting  thereon,  and  re- 
ferring to  the  practice  of  London  Yearly  Meeting, 
in  important  cases — where  doctrines  are  involved. 
This  was  objected  to  on  the  ground  that  we  must 
be  governed  by  our  own  discipline;  and  that  the 
usual  mode  of  trying  appeal  cases  should  be  adher- 
ed to. 

The  clerk  said  that  in  cases  of  defamation,  the 
discipline  gave  the  person  complained  of  the  right  to 
object  to  those  named  for  a  committee,  provided 
such  objection  does  not  extend  to  the  major  part 
thereof, — but  there  was  no  discipline  which  would 
apply  to  cases  of  this  kind.  He  said,  however,  that 
the  usage  of  Society  had  been  to  allow  appellants 
this  privilege  in  other  cases,  so  far  as  he  knew.  He 
proposed  to  read  from  the  discipline  of  another 
Yearly  Meeting  ;  but  objection  being  made  on  the 
ground  that  the  Yearly  Meeting  had  already  deci- 
ded that  we  must  be  governed  by  our  own  disci- 
pline, he  did  not  read  it. 

A  Friend  said  if  he  was  correctly  informed,  there 
was  a  large  Committee  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
which  had  been  active  in  this  case,  having  repeat- 
edly attended  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting, 
and  advised  in  relation  to  the  proceedings  which 
had  taken  place  in  regard  to  that  meeting — and  if 
so,  he  thought  it  improper  to  appoint  members  of 
that  committee,  on  this  appeal.  The  clerk  replied 
it  might  not  be  proper  to  appoint  those  of  that 
committee  who  had  attended  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  and  been  active  in  the  case.  Ob- 
jection was  made  on  behalf  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  to  the  appointment  of  any  portion 
of  the  Yearly  ^Meeting's  Committee,  and  allow- 
ing them  to  nominate  for  this  committee. 


104 


NARRATIVE  AND 


The  clerk  proceeded  to  take  names,  and  having 
obtained  the  requisite  number,  enquiry  was  made 
whether  any  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  was 
included  among  them.  The  clerk  replied  there  was 
one;  that  one  asked  to  be  excused,  which  being 
done,  another  friend  was  appointed  in  his  place,  ft 
was  also  stated  that  several  members  of  the  com- 
mittee had  been  named  by  members  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  and  objection  was  made  to 
these. 

A  member  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
said,  if  these  friends  were  objected  to,  it  would  not 
probably  stop  there ;  that  objection  would  be  made 
on  the  other  side,  &;c.  The  committee  was  allow- 
ed to  stand  without  further  alteration. 

A  friend  from  Sandwich  Quarterly  Meeting  said, 
it  appeared  evident  to  him  from  the  Discipline, 
as  read  by  the  clerk,  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
had  departed  from  it,  in  annexing  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  to  another,  while  at  the  same  time 
the  Monthly  Meeting  has  appealed  against  the  dis- 
solution. If  he  understood  it  right,  the  Discipline 
only  allows  such  annexation  in  case  the  Monthly 
Meeting  refuses  to  appeal. 

He  requested  the  clerk  again  to  read  that  para- 
graph giving  this  right  of  annexation.  The  assist- 
ant clerk  then  read  the  succeeding  paragraph.  The 
friend  said  this  was  not  the  one,  but  the  preceding 
one  he  wished  read. 

The  whole  passage  was  then  read  ;  when  done, 
the  friend  said  it  was  very  clear  that  the  Discipline 
had  not  been  kept  to,  for  the  Monthly  Meeting  not 
only  had  not  refused  to  appeal,  but  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  had  given  us  information  that  it  had  actual- 
ly appealed. 

The  clerk  was  requested  to  read  the  "  appeal,"  a 
copy  of  which  was  in  his  hands,  and  several  friends 
expressed  a  wish  to  have  it  read,  when  one  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  said,  that  by  our  Dis- 


EXPOSITION. 


105 


cipline,  no  paper  could  be  read  in  our  meetings  not 
coming  from  an  immediate  correspondent,  unless 
first  examined  by  a  committee.  To  this  it  ^vas  re- 
plied, that  the  Discipline  made  these  appellants  im- 
mediate correspondents  by  giving  the  right  of  ap- 
peal; and  that  the  Yearly  Meeting  ought  to  know  the 
grounds  on  which  the  appeal  is  made. 

After  considerable  discussion  it  was  decided  not 
to  read  the  Appeal,  but  the  copy  was  by  the  clerk 
handed  to  the  committee  just  appointed. 

From  the  minutes  of  the  meeting  for  Sufferings,  it 
appeared  that  a  committee  was  appointed  in  the  1 1th 
month,.  1842,  to  prepare  a  statement  of  the  condition 
of  things  among  us,  particularly  in  Rhode  Island 
Quarterly  Meeting,  which  was  not  generally  well 
understood.  This  committee  reported  from  time  to 
time  their  progress,  and  a  few  weeks  before  the 
Yearly  Meeting  they  reported  that  they  had  pre- 
pared such  a  statement,  but  thought  it  best  to  defer 
the  presentation  of  it  for  the  present,  but  that  they 
had  in  the  prosecution  of  this  labor,  been  introduced 
into  a  concern  to  prepare  an  essay  upon  the  doc- 
trines and  testimonies  of  the  Society,  which  they 
produced,  and  it  being  read,  it  was  referred  to  a 
committee  then  specially  appointed,  to  take  it  into 
their  consideration,  and  make  such  amendments  as 
they  may  deem  proper,  and  report.  The  document 
was  subsequently  adopted  by  the  meeting  for  Suf- 
ferings, read  in  Yearly  Meeting  and  directed  to  be 
printed.* 

Returning  minutes  were  presented  and  adopted 
by  the  meeting  for  two  ministers  and  their  com- 
panions, who  were  in  attendance  from  New  York 
Yearly  Meeting.     None  were  prepared  for  three 


*  The  statement  respec+ing  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting, 
&c..  said  to  have  been  prepai-ed  as  above,  has  never  appeared. 
The  committee  was  appointed  on  the  subject  about  the  time  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  was  dissolved. 

5* 


106 


NARRATIVE  AN© 


ministers  and  their  companions  from  Philadelphia 
Yearly  Meeting,  nor  for  a  minister  and  his  com- 
panion from  Ohio  Yearly  meeting,  all  of  whom,  ex- 
I  cept  one  of  the  companions,  were  present  with  the 
usual  credentials  which  had  been  recognized  in  the 
usual  manner  by  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

At  the  last  sitting  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  the  com- 
mittee on  the  appeal  presented  two  reports  ;  the 
first,  that  the  judgment  of  Rhode  Island  Quarterly 
Meeting  ought  to  be  confirmed,  which  was  sign- 
ed as  follows : 

John  Page,  William  Farr, 

Isaac  R.  Gifford,     Nathan  G.  Chase, 
Stephen  Jones,        Nathan  Pope, 
MosEs  Farnum,        James  N.  Fry, 
Stephen  Jones,  Jr.,  Paul  Taber, 
Elijah  Pope,  Tobias  Meader, 

David  Douglass. 

The  other,  that  the  judgment  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  ought  to  be  reversed,  because  some  of  its 
proceedings  were  in  violation  of  the  DiscipHne.  This 
latter  report  was  signed  as  follows  : 

Jonathan  Nichols,  John  Milton  Earle, 
Prince  Gardener,    Jonathan  S.  Millett, 
James  Tucker,        William  Hill. 

Two  members  of  the  committee,  viz :  Joseph 
Bracket  and  Samuel  Foster  did  not  sign  either  re- 
port. 

J.  M.  Earle,  of  the  committee,  said  he  wished  to 
explain  his  views,  and  he  thought  that  when  indi- 
viduals or  meetings  are  subjected  to  disciplinary 
proceedings,  they  were  entitled  to  have  the  Disci- 
pline strictly  adhered  to  ;  and  in  this  case,  while  he 
united  in  the  conclusion  to  which  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  came,  he  thought  some  of  its  proceedings 
were  not  in  accordance  with  the  Discipline.  Moses 


EXPOSITION. 


107 


Farnum  said  he  thought,  himself,  that  the  Discipline 
had  not  been  so  strictly  adhered  to  by  the  Quarter- 
ly Meeting  as  would  have  been  desirable,  but  con- 
sidering that  they  acted  under  the  advice  of  a  large 
committee,  with  authority  from  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, he  thought  it  would  do  to  confirm  their  judg- 
ment. 

The  report  of  the  majority  was  adopted,  and  after 
the  clerk  had  commenced  making  the  minute,  one 
of  the  committee  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing on  the  appeal  rose  and  began  to  speak  by  say- 
ing, that  as  tliis  subject  was  now  disposed  of  and 
anything  he  should  say  could  not  go  to  afiTect  the 
result, — here  he  was  interrupted  by  the  assistant 
clerk,  who  said  the  subject  was  still  open  for  further 
expression  ;  and  the  friend  sat  down. 

Subsequent  to  this,  both  before  and  after  the  mi- 
nute was  read,  many  spoke  m  close  succession,  ex- 
horting to  submission  and  acquiesence  in  the  conclu- 
sions of  the  body,  and  one  remarked  that  he  thought 
he  could  discover  the  v»'orking  of  a  restless  and  op- 
posing spirit,  and  expressed  his  desire  that  such 
might  be  stayed  and  bound  down,  &c.  J.  M.  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  said  he  felt  desir- 
ous that  the  meeting  should  be  brought  to  a  close 
as  soon  as  might  be,  and  not  unnecessarily  detain 
Friends.  About  this  time  the  same  member  of  the 
appeal  committee  who  had  before  essayed  to  speak, 
rose  and  said  that  the  longer  he  sat  in  this  meeting 
the  more  he  became  confirmed  in  the  belief  that  he 
should  not  leave  it  with  peace  of  mind  without  ad- 
verting to  the  extraodinary  powers  claimed  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  who  had  repeatedly 
visited  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting — this  duty 
seemed  the  more  imperative,  as  that  committee  had 
been  again  re-appointed ;  they  had  claimed  when 
with  us,  that  they  were  clothed  with  all  the  authori- 
ty and  power  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  that  their  ad- 
vice was  discipline  ;  equally  binding  with  any  other ; 


108 


NARRATIVE  AND 


and  this  claim  has  again  been  set  up  by  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committee,  during  the  investigation 
of  this  case  ;  and  besides,  one  of  the  committee  on 
the  investigation  has  just  admitted  that  he  thought 
the  Discipline  had  not  been  kept  to,  but  considering 
the  powers  of  this  committee  (who  were  advisatory 
to  all  these  proceedings)  he  thought  the  judgment  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  might  safely  be  confirmed. 
He  apprehended  that  the  members  of  this  meeting 
were  not  generally  aware  that  so  much  was  claim- 
ed by  this  committee.  It  appeared  to  him  extraordi- 
nary and  alarming.  He  wished  friends  to  consider 
the  consequences  to  which,  if  admitted  by  the  Year- 
ly Meeting,  it  will  inevitably  lead.  It  appeared  to 
him  to  strike  at  that  fundamental  doctrine  of  Friends, 
a  belief  in  the  influence  of  Truth  upon  the  mind,  and 
its  paramount  authority  in  transacting  the  business 
of  Society,  and  the  importance  of  being  governed 
herein  by  its  monitions  ;  for,  how  can  we  yield  to 
its  pointings  should  they  conflict  with  advice  by 
w^hich  we  are  bound,  and  which  we  cannot  do  other- 
wise than  accept ;  or  in  other  words,  when  under 
the  influence  ol'  a  counter  and  irresistible  decree  of 
a  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee.  It  also  destroys 
the  benefit  of  an  appeal,  for  if  a  member  be  disown- 
ed by  a  Monthly  Meeting  acting  under  such  advice, 
and  appeals,  he  stands  no  chance  for  obtaining  re- 
dress, for  he  appeals  to  the  very  body  by  w^hose  au- 
thority he  w^as  disowned  in  the  first  instance.  These 
considerations  he  said  had  rested  with  increased 
weight  upon  his  mind  during  the  present  sitting. 

Moses  Farnum  said  he  had  hoped  the  committee 
would  not  now  be  censured,  having  acted  accord- 
ing to  the  best  of  their  judgment. 

The  friend  who  had  last  spoken,  replied  he  had 
not  questioned  the  motives  of  the  friend,  and  had 
not  intended  to,  but  that  he  had  been  led  to  fear  from 
what  he  had  seen,  as  well  as  what  that  friend  had 
said,  that  there  was  danger  of  a  regard  for  the  Dis- 


EXPOSITHON. 


109 


cipline  becoming  lessened  if  not  lost.  Several  others 
now  spoke  in  succession,  expressing  sympathy  with 
those  who  felt  themselves  aggrieved,  exhorting  them 
to  quietness  and  acquiesence,  saying  they  felt  much 
for  them,  &:c.  <fec.  When  these  had  ceased,  the 
meeting  concluded. 

At  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  8th 
month,  1843,  a  committee  of  nine  was  appointed  in 
the  case  of  John  Wilbur's  appeal,  and  an  attempt 
w^as  made  to  appoint  members  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee.  This  was  opposed,  on  the  ground 
that  they  had  already  prejudged  the  case,  and  some 
of  them,  several  times  over ;  it  was  relinquished. 
But  a  proposition  that  none  should  be  appointed 
who  were  not  in  unity  with  "  the  body,"  was  adopt- 
ed and  acted  upon.  The  name  of  a  friend  who  had 
taken  no  active  part  in  the  case,  was  refused,  mere- 
ly because  he  was  known  to  disapprove  of  some  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting. 

On  asking  for  J.  W.  the  privilege  of  objecting  to 
a  part  of  the  committee,  if  he  should  desire  it,  agree- 
able to  discipline,  in  cases  of  detraction,  and  a  usage 
in  all  cases  ;  one  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
took  the  ground,  that  the  complaint  against  J.  W. 
was  not  for  detraction  ;  that  if  the  word  detraction 
was  in  the  complaint,  it  was  incidental,  and  as  to 
usage,  it  was  of  no  consequence — the  meeting  could 
do  as  it  pleased  ! !  It  was  decided  that  J.  W.  could 
not  be  allowed  to  object  to  any  of  the  committee, 
unless  the  committee  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meet- 
ing were  allowed  to  object  to  an  equal  number,  for 
which  no  provision  is  made  in  the  New  England 
Discipline.  In  the  discussion  of  this  question,  as 
many  opposed  this  decision  as  favored  it ;  and  of 
the  latter  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittees were  the  principal  actors. 

John  Wilbur  being  called  in,  and  plead  for  his 
right  of  objection,  both  on  ground  of  Discipline  and 
usage,  but  without  effect,  and  finally  said,  if  this 


110 


NARRATIVK  AND 


was  the  conclusion  of  the  meeting,  he  should  not  at- 
tempt to  exercise  the  right  of  objection,  as  it  would 
be  of  no  value. 

The  committee  appointed  at  this  time,  proposed 
to  meet  at  Sommerset  in  the  11th  month,  at  which 
time  J.  W.  attended,  when  the  committee  informed 
him  they  had  ascertained  that  one  of  their  number 
was  named  by  a  member  of  Greenwich  Monthly 
Meeting,  which  was  not  proper,  and  they  could  not 
consent  to  proceed  on  that  account.  J.  Wilbur  told 
them  he  came  there  [near  fifty  miles]  prepared  to 
proceed,  and  was  anxious  to  do  so,  and  that  he 
would  waive  all  objections  on  account  of  the  irregu- 
larity named,  but  they  pressed  the  objection  and  ad- 
journed to  meet  at  Providence  in  the  2nd  month, 
1844. 

At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  11th  month, 
1843,  it  was  stated  that  a  member  of  the  committee 
on  the  appeal  of  J.  W.  had  been  improperly  named 
by  a  member  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  and 
the  clerk  suggested  that  the  same  friend  should  be 
named  by  one  of  his  own  Monthly  Meeting,  which 
was  done,  and  the  committee  stood  as  it  did  before. 
This  committee  met  at  Providence  previous  to  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  held  there  in  the  second  month 
and  gave  J.  W.  a  hearing.* 

At  that  Quarterly  Meeting  six  of  the  committee 
reported  in  favor  of  confirming  the  judgment  of 
Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  two  signed  a  contra- 
ry report,  and  one  was  not  present.  Both  reports 
were  read.  One  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee was  the  first  to  unite  with  the  report  of  the  ma- 
jority ;  he  was  followed  by  two  others,  who  were 
not  only  of  the  same  committee,  but  also  of  Green- 


*  John  Wilbur's  defence  before  this  committee,  being  substan- 
tially the  same  as  before  that  appointed  by  the  Yearly  Meeting ;  it 
is  omitted  here  and  will  be  found  in  its  proper  place. 


EXPOSITION. 


Ill 


wich  Monthly  Meeting  !  Both  very  active  in  that 
meeting  in  favor  of  J.  W/s  disownment !  Being  also 
of  the  number  of  those  who  visited  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  so  constantly,  and  who  were  be- 
fore the  committee  of  that  meeting  as  prosecutors  in 
the  same  case. 

On  being  reminded  of  the  impropriety  of  this 
proceeding,  another  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, immediately  united,  and  these  four  were  all 
signers  of  the  complaint  against  J.  Wilbur.  Others 
of  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee 
followed,  and  not  more  than  three  or  four  are  be- 
lieved to  have  united  with  the  majority  report  who 
were  not  of  these  committees.  Some  united  with 
the  other  report,  but  the  first  was  decided  by  the 
clerk  to  be  adopted,  and  he  made  a  minute  to  that 
effect. 

It  was  enquired  whether  John  Wilbur  would  be 
allowed  to  come  in  and  hear  the  conclusion ;  this 
enquiry  being  answered  in  the  affirmative,  he  was 
called  in  and  the  clerk  read  the  report  and  the 
minute  adopting  it. 

J.  W.  informed  the  meeting  that  he  considered 
their  decision  not  a  rightful  one,  and  that  he  wished 
to  appeal  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  against  the  judg- 
ment of  this  meeting.  He  then  left  the  house.  The 
appointment  of  a  committee  to  represent  the  Quar- 
ter was  referred  to  the  next  meeting. 

This  case  being  thus  disposed  of,  the  case  of  T. 
P.  N.  was  taken  up,  and  a  committee  of  three  from 
each  Monthly  Meeting,  except  his  own,  (Rhode 
Island)  was  appointed  to  hear  the  parties.* 


♦Thecaseof  T.  P.  N.,  by  appeal  from  Rhode  Island  Monthly- 
Meeting,  clearly  originated  in  his  decided  and  faithful  opposition 
to  the  unsound  doctrines  sought  to  be  introduced  among  us,  al- 
though ostensibly  based  upon  a  frivolous  and  unfounded  charge  of 
improper  behaviour  under  the  ministiy  of  public  friends.  He  is 
an  exemplary  and  consistent  friend,  and  united  with  the  Society 
about  seven  or  eight  years  ago. 


112 


NARRATIVE  AND 


The  names  of  three  friends  who  were  nominated 
on  this  committee,  were  rejected  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  not  in  unity  with  the  doings  of  the  Yearly 
and  Quarterly  Meetings. 

■  The  enquiry  was  made,  whether  the  privilege  of 
coming  in  and  objecting  to  any  of  the  committee 
would  be  accorded  to  the  appellant,  if  he  chose  to 
avail  himself  of  it.  After  some  discussion  on  this 
question,  in  which  the  clerk  said  he  was  wiUing  he 
should  come  in  and  hear  the  names  read,  but  not 
that  he  should  have  the  privilege  of  objection.  T. 
P.  N.  was  called  in,  and  the  minute  including  the 
names  of  the  committee  was  read,  after  which  he 
enquired,  whether  he  was  to  understand  that  he  had 
the  right  of  objection  to  any  of  the  committee,  said 
he  did  not  intend  to  ask  for  any  unusual  privilege, 
but  only  for  such  as  he  was  entitled  to  by  the  disci- 
pline and  usage  of  the  society.  This  led  to  some 
further  discussion,  and  the  citing  of  former  cases  in 
favor  of  allowing  the  right  of  objection,  as  well  as 
the  decision  of  the  clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  last 
year,  that  it  had  in  all  cases,  so  far  as  he  knew,  been 
the  usage  to  allow  objections.  But  both  the  usage 
and  the  decision  were  positively  denied  by  some  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee. 

The  clerk  said  there  was  no  discipline  for  it,  and 
J.  M.,  one  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  said, 
he  thought  it  would  be  best  [or  safest]  to  adhere 
hereafter  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  discipline,  and  to 
begin  now.  The  right  of  objection  was  not  allowed, 
and  T.  P.  N.  retired. 

After  he  left,  E.  F.,,a  friend  of  the  late  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  rose,  and  in  an  impres- 
sive manner  spoke  in  substance  as  follows  : 

"  In  view  of  the  judgment  of  the  meeting  in  the 
two  appeal  cases  which  have  been  before  it, — or 
rather  of  the  record  made  by  the  clerk  as  such,  and 
in  view,  and  in  review  of  what  has  transpired  in 
this  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meeting,  relating  to  the 


EXPOSITION. 


113 


affairs  of  Society  for  the  past  two  years,  I  believe  it 
will  be  right  for  me  to  say  something  by  way  of 
declaration  of  my  innocency,  and  the  innocency  of 
those  friends  w' ith  whom  it  has  been  my  privilege  to 
act.  touching  the  affairs  of  Society ;  reluctant  as  I 
feel,  thus  to  allude  to  acts  of  my  own,  either  sepa- 
rately or  in  connection  with  my  friends,  but  this  at 
present  seems  to  be  all  that  is  left  for  us  ;  and  I  feel 
the  obligation  to  perform  this  duty  to  be  the  more 
imperious  in  consequence  of  what  has  been  so  often 
said  of  us. — I  will  not  say  abroad,  behind  our  backs, 
in  the  many  unfounded  reports  that  had  gone  out 
against  us  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other, 
and  from  this  side  the  Atlantic  to  the  other,  but  it  is 
well  known  to  most  within  the  hearing  of  my  voice, 
that  w^e  had  been  repeatedly  spoken  of  in  our  meet- 
ings for  discipline  as  being  insubordinate,  as  being 
disorderly,  as  being  disturbers  of  the  peace  of  the 
church,  as  having  no  interest  in  Society,  and  de- 
serving none  of  its  privileges,  as  caring  for  nothing 
but  to  pull  down  and  destroy.  These  are  some  of 
the  epithets  w^hich  have  been  applied  to  us  un- 
sparingly by  those  who  occupy  the  high  seats.  I 
have  often  thought  we  were  treated  either  as  though 
we  had  no  feelings  or  as  though  our  feelings,  and 
our  rights  too,  might  be  trampled  upon  w^ith  impu- 
nity ;  but  permit  me  to  tell  you,  friends,  that  w^e  have 
feelings  as  well  as  yoa,  and  how  often  those  feelings 
have  been  wounded,  how  often  our  hearts  have  bled 
when  those  severe  and  unkind  accusations  have 
been  made  against ^s,  is  known  only  to  Him  w^ho 
sees  the  secrets  of  every  heart.  And  let  no  one 
think  that  w^e  have  taken  the  ground  w^e  have  from 
a  love  of  controversy,  or  for  the  gratification  of  our 
own  wills  and  inclinations  ;  neither  have  we  taken 
it  inconsiderately  or  rashly,  for  I  can  truly  say, 
^  (and  what  I  now  say  I  am  aware  that  I  say  not  only 
in  the  presence  of  the  friends  assembled,  but  in  the 
presence  of  Him  before  whom  I  expect  to  render 


114 


NARRATIVB  AND 


my  final  account  of  all  these  things  at  a  Tribunal 
higher  than  those  of  earth,  and  beyond  the  bounds  of 
time — a  tribunal  towards  which  we  are  all  rapidly 
hastening,  and  before  which  every  one  of  us  must 
soon  appear.)  I  say  then,  that  a  consideration  of 
these  things  has  occupied  the  attention  of  my  mind 
in  deep  sohcitude  and  anxious  thought  beyond  all 
other  subjects  combined,  and  that  not  only  when 
assembled  for  the  purpose  of  transacting  the  affairs 
of  Society,  but  when  my  hands  have  been  engaged 
in  my  lawful  and  daily  avocations,  and  oft  when  my 
head  has  been  resting  on  my  pillow  in  the  silence  of 
the  night,  have  I  meditated  on  these  things,  and  re- 
viewed in  the  most  serious  manner  the  course  which 
I  have  pursued,  nor  have  I  ever  been  able  to  see 
that  I  could  pursue  any  other  ;  not  that  I  have  never 
erred  in  word  or  act,  for  this  I  am  aware  that  I  may 
have  done,  but  if  so,  I  have  the  satisfaction  of  know- 
ing that  it  was  not  wilful  error ;  and  that  the  Searcher 
of  all  hearts  knows  the  sincerity  of  mine  when  I 
say,  that  I  have  desired  that  I  might  do  nothing  to 
injure  the  cause  of  truth.  And  I  feel  further  to  say, 
that  had  I  assented  either  directly  or  indirectly  to 
the  course  pursued  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, for  effecting  their  favorite  purpose  in  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  I  did  believe,  and  I  do 
believe,  that  I  should  have  been  verily  guilty,  and 
that  my  peace  would  have  departed  from  me,  but 
now  I  rejoice  to  say,  that  in  these  respects  it  remains 
with  me.  Ah,  friends,  for  peace  of  mind — peace  of 
mind  the  reward  of  conscious  innocence  and  faith- 
fulness.— This  in  the  language  of  a  pious  writer  is 
the  pearl  of  great  price  which  rich  men  cannot  buy, 
which  learning  is  oft  times  too  proud  to  gather  up, 
but  which  the  poor  and  despised  of  all,  sometimes 
seek  and  obtain  ;  yea,  and  it  is  with  me  to  add,  and 
which  the  oppressor  in  the  might  of  his  power,  what- 
ever else  he  may  do,  cannot  prevent  their  receiving, 


EXPOSITIOX. 


115 


and  when  received,  cannot  take  it  from  them. 
Thanks  be  to  the  Father  of  Mercies  that  it  is  so." 

Soon  after,  this  friend  sat  down  the  meeting  closed. 

At  the  time  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  at  Green- 
wich, in  the  fifth  month,  1844 — E.  F.  was  visited  by 
the  overseers  of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  and 
taken  under  dealing,  on  account  of  these  remarks — 
and  was  afterwards  disowned  therefor. 

In  the  treatment  of  the  Committee  of  Greenwich. . 
Monthly  Meeting  with  him,  they  strongly  contend- 
ed that  he  had  accused  those  who  occupy  the  high 
seats  with  spreading  unfounded  reports  against 
himself  and  his  friends  from  one  end  of  the  land  to 
the  other,  &c.  And  when  he  gave  them  the  sub- 
stance of  what  he  did  say  in  writing,  as  now  pub- 
lished,* they  still  maintained  that  it  would  bear  that 
construction !  With  what  justice  and  for  what  pur- 
pose the  reader  may  be  Lft  to  judge. 

That  those  alluded  to  had  accused  him  and  those 
acting  with  him  as  stated,  with  being  insubordinate, 
disorderly,  disturbers  of  the  peace,  &c. — they  did 
not  pretend  to  gainsay — for  it  could  be  easily  cor- 
roborated by  many  witnesses. 

At  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  5th  month,  1844, 
the  committee  in  the  case  of  T.  P.  N.  reported  in 
confirmation  of  the  judgment  of  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, which  being  adopted,  he  informed  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  that  he  should  appeal  to  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  represent 
the  Quarter  therein. 


*  The  foregoing  remai'ks  in  the  Quarterly  Meeting  were  commit- 
ted to  writing  immediately  after  the  meeting,  by  the  Friend  who 
made  them,  from  an  apprehension,  that  a  wrong  version  of  what 
was  said  might  be  given  and  insisted  on  ;  as  had  been  previously 
done  in  some  other  cases,  which  apprehension  the  sequel  justified. 
They  were  submitted  to  the  examination  of  other  Friends  who  were 
present,  and  are  believed  to  be  substantially  correct,  and  nearly  in 
the  words  spoken. 


116 


NARRATIVE  AND 


At  New  England  Yearly  Meeting,  held  on  Rhode 
Island,  6th  month,  1844,  the  account  from  Rhode 
Island  Quarterly  Meeting  brought  to  view  the  ap- 
peals of  John  Wilbur  and  T.  P.  N.  against  the  con- 
clusion of  that  meeting  in  confirming  the  judgment 
of  Greenwich  and  Rhode  Island  Monthly  Meetings 
in  disowning  them.  A  committee  of  twenty-one 
was  appointed,  to  which  both  these  cases  were  re- 
ferred. In  the  appointment  of  this  committee,  the 
meeting  decided  that  members  of  the  Standing 
Committee  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  who  had  hereto- 
fore been  engaged  in  the  case  of  J.  W. — and  those 
Friends  who  constituted  the  committee  appointed 
last  year,  on  the  appeal  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  (the  two  cases  being  nearly  similar)  should 
be  excluded.  It  was  further  proposed  that  those 
who  had  openly  expressed  theinselves  opposed  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  should  also  he  ex- 
cluded. 

To  this  proposition  it  was  objected,  that  it  would 
be  making  an  improper  distinction,  inasmuch  as  in 
a  case  of  so  much  importance  and  interest,  it  was 
probable  that  most  of  the  members  had  expressed 
themselves  either  for  or  against — and  if  those  of  one 
class  were  to  be  excluded,  those  of  the  other  should 
be  also  ;  and  further,  it  was  feared  that  this  course 
might  tend  to  trammel  the  committee.  The  meeting, 
however,  decided  in  favor  of  the  proposition,  and 
when  a  name  was  offered,  supposed  to  be  of  the 
class  alluded  to  therein>.itjwas  rejected. 

The  right  was  asked  for  the  appellants  to  be  pre- 
sent and  object  to  a  portion  of  the  committee,  should 
they  desire  it,  in  conformity  with  the  discipline  and 
usages  of  the  society.  This  gave  rise  to  consider- 
able discussion,  and  views  of  an  opposite  character 
were  expressed.  The  clerk  said  that  in  our  disci- 
pline, under  the  head  of  Appeals,  nothing  is  said  of 
this  right,  but  under  the  head  of  Defamation  and 
Detraction,  the  right  is  allowed,  provided  it  do  not 


EXPOSITION. 


117 


extend  to  the  major  part  of  the  committee.  He  said 
if  we  should  turn  from  our  own  discipline  to  those 
of  other  Yearly  Meetings,  we  should  find  different 
provisions  in  regard  to  the  right  of  objection. 

To  this  it  was  replied,  that  the  decision  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting  last  year,  in  the  case  of  the  appeal 
of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  was  undoubt- 
edly correct,  that  we  ynust  he  governed  by  our  own 
discipline,  and  further  that  the  clerk  stated  last  year 
that  in  cases  of  Defamation  and  Detraction  the  right 
of  objection  is  allowed  by  the  discipline,  and  that 
it  had  been  the  usage  in  all  other  cases ;  and  that  one 
of  the  principal  charges  against  J.  W.  is  detraction. 

The  meeting  finally  decided  that  the  appellants 
might  state  their  objections,  if  they  desired,  and  the 
meeting  would  take  them  into  consideration,  and 
decide  on  their  validity.  This  was  objected  to  on 
the  ground  that  it  would  render  the  right  of  no 
value,  and  that  there  was  neither  discipline  nor 
usage  for  it. 

The  appellants  were  separately  called  into  the 
meeting,  and  the  privilege  of  objecting  proffered  to 
them  under  this  restriction.  It  was  declined  by 
both.  J.  W.  requested  to  be  allowed  some  one  to 
assist  him  before  the  committee,  as  from  his  age  and 
infirmity  it  would  be  a  hard  task  for  him  to  per- 
form the  necessary  labor.  Many  expressed  them- 
selves in  favor  of  granting  tiiis  request,  but  the 
meeting  decided  against  it. 

TEe  committee  having  completed  the  investiga- 
tion of  these  cases,  reported  in  favor  of  confirming 
the  judgment  of  the  Quarterly  iMeeting  in  both  ; 
one  of  their  number  declining  to  sign  the  report  in 
the  case  of  J.  W. 

The  reports  w^ere  adopted  by  the  meeting. 

John  Wilbur,  desiring  to  be  present  to  hear  the 
report  of  the  committee  in  his  case,  and  conclusion 
of  the  meeting,  was  called  in,  and  they  w^ere  read 
in  his  hearing.    After  sitting  a  short  time  in  silence, 


118 


NARRATIVE  AND 


he  rose,  and  remarked  in  substance,  that  however 

unjust  he  believed  the  decision  to  be,  yet  he  should 
entertain  no  hardness  against  any  concerned  in  the 
proceedings  against  him  :  that  it  was  his  desire  that 
none  of  our  members  should  depart  from  the  an- 
cient principles  or  testimonies  of  the  society,  nor 
suffer  any  innovation  upon  them ;  these  had  been 
dear  to  him  from  his  youth  up,  and  were  still  dear 
to  him : — he  then  withdrew. 

The  subject  of  more  clearly  defining  and  explain- 
ing the  discipline,  in  regard  to  the  rights  of  individ- 
uals and  meetings, — the  proper  subordination  of  in- 
ferior meetings, — the  mode  of  proceeding  in  the 
execution  of  the  discipline,  &c.,  was  taken  into 
consideration  by  the  meeting,  and  resulted  in  refer- 
ring the  subject  to  the  Meeting  for  Sufferings,  with 
instructions  for  them  to  make  such  explanations, 
alterations,  and  additions,  as  shall  meet  the  concern 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  report  next  year. 

Returning  minutes  for  the  ministers  from  other 
Yearly  Meetings,  were  prepared  and  adopted  for 
those  in  attendance,  with  the  exception  of  one  min- 
ister from  Ohio  Yearly  Meeting, — for  whom  none 
was  prepared. 

(The  certificate  of  this  beloved  and  faithful  gos- 
pel minister,  embraced  a  prospect  of  further  reli- 
gious service  within  our  limits  ; — but  he  was  visited 
by  a  deputation  from  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, who  informed  him  he  could  not  travel  here, 
unless  he  would  unite  with  their  proceedings,  and 
refrain  from  associating  with  those  known  to  be 
dissatisfied  therewith ;  and  advised  him  to  return 
without  accomplishing  his  prospect !) 


EXPOSITION. 


119 


MONTHLY  meeting's  APPEAL. 

Some  account  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Committee 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting  on  the  AppeaL 

The  Committee  of  the  New  England  Yearly 
Meeting  on  the  Appeal  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  met  at  Newport,  3d  day,  13th  of  6th 
month,  1843,  and  appointed  John  Milton  Earle  their 
clerk — and  notified  the  parties  that  they  would 
meet  4th  day  morning  to  hear  the  case. 

Fourth  day  morning,  committee  met — and  the 
parties  were  present.  Perez  Peck,  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee,  said  there  was  a  person  pre- 
sent who  was  not  a  member  of  society,  and  that 
they  should  object  to  any  such  sitting.  Some  one 
said  there  appeared  to  be  several  members  from 
South  Kingston  there,  who  were  not  of  the  commit- 
tee, and  thought  they  ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  be 
present.  Perez  Peck  continued  to  object  to  John 
Wilbur  upon  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  member 
of  society.  The  clerk  said  he  thought  it  would  be 
proper  first  to  decide  whether  any  except  members 
of  the  committees  should  be  present.  He  said  he 
had  been  enquired  of,  whether  any  besides  the  par- 
ties immediately  interested  could  be  present — 
whether  the  strangers  now  attending  the  Yearly 
Meeting  could  be  admitted.  He  had  been  unable 
to  give  a  decided  answer  to  these  enquiries — but 
his  own  opinion  was,  that  it  would  not  be  proper. 
Several  of  the  Committee  from  South  Kingston  re- 
marked that  they  were  not  aware  that  any  not  of  the 
committee  contemplated  attending — and  thought  as 
there  was  objection  to  it,  they  would  be  willing  to 
withdraw  ;  and  they  did  so  accordingly. 

The  propriety  of  J.  Wilbur's  sitting  was  now 
further  discussed — South  Kingston  Friends  taking 
the  ground  that  this  was  not  a  question  proper  to 


120 


NARRATIVE  AND 


be  raised  here — that  J.  W.  came  before  this  com- 
mitte  with  as  good  credentials  as  any  of  the  others, 
and  they  had  no  right  to  go  back  of  these  to  look 
for  objections.  It  is  claimed  that  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  had  placed  J.  W.  under  dealing,  at  the 
same  time  they  dissolved  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting, — that  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  have 
since  disowned  him,  and  that  this  disquahfies  him 
from  appearing  here  on  behalf  of  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, as  an  appellant — upon  the  same  principle  all 
the  other  members  of  the  committee  on  the  appeal 
might  have  been  disowned,  and  thus  the  right  of  ap- 
peal, secured  by  discipline,  would  be  defeated  alto- 
gether— besides,  this  appeal  is  against  the  action  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  annulling  our  records,  and 
thus  placing  one  of  our  members  under  dealing  who 
had  been  acquitted  by  his  own  Monthly  Meeting, 
and  for  which  proceeding  no  discipline  could  be 
produced — that  J.  Wilbur's  interest  in  this  question 
was  perhaps  greater  than  that  of  any  one  besides — 
that  all  the  proceedings  in  his  case  were  involved  in 
this  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  and  surely  he  could 
not  be  debarred  from  appearing  here  as  an  appel- 
lant. The  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  took  the 
ground  that  the  decision  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
must  be  binding  until  it  was  reversed  by  the  Year- 
ly Meeting.  Having  heard  the  parties  on  this 
question — the  committee  requested  them  to  with- 
draw while  they  came  to  a  conclusion  thereon.  Af- 
ter being  by  themselves  for  upwards  of  an  hour, 
the  committee  called  the  parties  in,  and  the  clerk 
stated  that  they  decided  at  present  to  allow  all  to 
sit  who  appeared  by  the  x'ecord  to  be  of  the  com- 
mittee. But  if  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee 
were  still  dissatisfied,  and  wished  to  raise  the  ques- 
tion again,  they  could  have  the  privilege  of  intro- 
ducing further  proof  from  the  records,  of  this 
Friend's  disqualification.  The  appeal  was  now 
read,  and  the  appellants  were  then  asked  to  pro- 


EXPOSITION. 


121 


ceed — when  a  member  of  the  committee,  on  behalf 
of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  commented  upon  the  great 
importance  of  the  case,  and  the  necessity  of  being 
governed  by  the  discipline  in  its  decision.  He  had 
understood  the  Yearly  Meeting  to  have  very  fully 
instructed  the  committee  to  that  effect.  He  then 
stated  the  order  in  which  we  proposed  to  proceed, 
beginning  with  a  liistory  of  the  proceedings  which 
had  taken  place  in  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, including  the  conduct  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  &c.  This  was  objected  to  by  the 
Quarterly  jNIeeting's  Committee,  and  the  clerk  said 
he  did  not  see  what  relation  these  matters  had  to 
the  case ;  if  it  could  be  proved  that  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  had  done  wrong,  it  would  not 
show  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
had  been  in  violation  of  the  discipline ;  it  seemed  to 
him  proper  that  the  investigation  should  be  confined 
to  the  evidence  of  the  violation  of  the  discipline,  as 
claimed  in  the  appeal.  It  was  replied,  that  the 
Monthly  Meeting  appealed  against  the  dissolution 
as  not  warranted  by  any  of  its  jyroceedings,  as  well 
as  against  the  manner  of  it.  That  the  Monthly 
Meeting  was  charged  with  disorder,  insubordina- 
tion and  want  of  unity,  and  these  were  claimed  to 
justify  the  dissolution.  They  therefore  claimed  the 
right  to  show  what  the  jNIonthly  Meeting  had  done, 
as  well  as  the  proceedings  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  therein,  upon  whose  complaint  the  Quar- 
terly iNIeeting  had  taken  the  matter  up — and  be- 
sides that,  such  a  statement  of  facts  as  we  proposed 
to  make,  in  the  order  of  time  as  they  transpired,  was 
best  calculated  to  give  the  committee  a  correct 
idea  of  the  case,  and  they  would  be  much  better 
prepared  to  comprehend  and  appreciate,  whatever 
might  be  afterwards  said  in  relation  to  it. 

It  was  a  mere  statement  of  facts,  what  was  said 
and  done,  without  comment — and  if  any  thing  there- 
in was  claim.ed  to  be  incorrect  bv  the  Quarterly 
6 


122 


NARRATIVE  AND 


Meeting's  Committee,  we  wished  them  to  note  it 
down  as  the  reading  progressed,  and  for  which 
time  would  be  allowed — and  at  the  close  we  would 
take  up  all  such  contested  points,  and  canvass  them, 
and  if  necessary  introduce  proof  thereon.  That 
they  should  remark  fully  upon  the  violation  of  the 
discipline,  in  the  course  of  the  investigation,  but  they 
deemed  it  important  that  the  committee  should  first 
have  a  history  of  previous  proceedings  in  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  Rhode  Island  Quarterly 
Meeting,  which  had  led  to  it.  The  clerk  of  the 
committee  said  he  thought  this  course  might  be 
proper,  in  order  to  show  that  the  dissolution  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting  was  not  warranted  (in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  appeal)  by  any  proceedings  of  theirs. 

The  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  said  if  this 
was  allowed,  they  should  not  be  willing  any  state- 
ment should  be  made  of  what  took  place  previous  to 
the  appointment  of  the  committee  by  the  Quarterly 
Meeting  in  the  8th  month  to  attend  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  for  they  only  represented  the 
Quarterly  Meeting,  and  that  meeting  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  case  previous  to  that  time.  It  was  re- 
pHed  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  in 
their  written  advice  to  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  had  condemned  its  proceedings  as  far 
back  as  the  5th  month,  and  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
itself  had  undertaken  to  annul  and  make  void  those 
proceedings — and  besides,  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
had  taken  the  case  up  upon  the  report  and  complaint 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  therefore 
the  right  was  claimed  to  investigate  the  doings  of 
that  committee.  Perez  Peck,  on  behalf  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committee,  said  if  this  was  to  be  al- 
lowed, they  should  claim  the  privilege  of  having  J* 
Osborne,  the  clerk  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee, present,  to  correct  any  misstatements  made  re- 
specting them.  He  had  full  minutes  of  their  pro- 
eeedings^  and  they  wished  to  show  what  the  opinion 


EXPOSITION. 


123 


of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  was,  respect- 
ing that  Monthly  Meeting.  A  member  of  the  Month- 
ly Meeting's  Committee  said  he  trusted  the  opinions 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  would  not  be 
received  as  evidence  before  this  committee  ;  if  any 
facts  were  brought  forward,  they  would  no  doubt 
be  allowed  their  weight,  but  with  the  opinions  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  w^e  had  nothing  to 
do.  Some  one  of  the  Committee  of  South  Kingston 
said  there  were  at  least  two  members  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  on  this  Committee  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting,  (Perez  Peck  and  Allen  Wing,) 
who  were  among  those  who  had  visited  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  they  could  no  doubt 
see  that  no  injustice  was  done  to  that  committee. 
These  members  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
said  they  did  not  appear  there  in  the  capacity  of  a 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee — they  were  there  only 
to  represent  the  Quarterly  Meeting.  The  Commit- 
tee of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  declared 
their  willingness  to  have  J.  Osborne  present,  if  it 
was  wished ;  expressing  their  desire  to  have  the 
fullest  investigation.  This  being  decided  on,  the 
committee  adjourned  to  meet  in  the  afternoon.  4th 
day,  P.  M.,  committee  again  met,  John  Osborne  be- 
ing present,  when  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee produced  the  records  of  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting,  and  extracts  from  the  minutes  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting,  and  also  of  Greenwich  Monthly 
Meeting,  to  show  that  J.  W.  had  been  complained 
of  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  that  al- 
though acquitted  by  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, the  Quarterly  Meeting  had  annulled  the  pro- 
ceedings by  which  it  w^as  done,  and  laid  down  that 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  that  Greenwich  Monthly 
Meeting  had  since  disowned  him,  upon  the  original 
complaint,  and  the  report  of  two  of  the  committee 
appointed  in  the  4th  month,  which  only  was  recog- 
nized as  valid — that  the  other  members  of  the  com- 


124 


NARRATIVE  AND 


mittee  declined  to  meet  with  them,  and  that  John 
Wilbur,  though  requested  to  meet  them,  had  not 
done  so,  &c.  At  the  close  of  the  reading  of  these 
documents,  J.  W.  said  he  felt  called  upon  to  notice 
a  misstatement  contained  in  the  minutes  of  Green- 
wich Monthly  Meeting  : — it  was  there  stated  that 
he  had  been  requested  to  meet  with  those  two 
members  of  the  committee  who  had  reported  against 
him.  This  was  not  so,  they  did  not  ask  him  to  meet 
them,  he  had  the  letter  now  which  they  wrote  him, 
which  would  show  the  contrary.  The  whole  of 
this  sitting  was  occupied  in  the  discussion  of  the 
question  of  J.  W.'s  sitting,  but  nothing  new  either  of 
fact  or  argument  was  ehcited.  At  the  close  of  the 
sitting,  the  committee  were  for  a  short  time  by 
themselves  in  consultation,  and  then  adjourned  to 
meet  again  in  the  evening.  On  coming  together 
again  the  clerk  of  the  committee  informed  the  ap- 
pellants that  they  might  proceed  with  the  case,  and 
being  about  to  do  so,  Perez  Peck  interrupted  them, 
saying  they  had  not  yet  had  a  decision  on  the  ques- 
tion discussed  at  the  previous  sitting.  The  clerk 
replied  that  they  had  concluded  to  allow  J.  W.  to 
sit,  if  he  chose  to  do  so.  Perez  Peck  said,  that  be- 
ing the  case,  he  must  request  an  adjournment  until 
next  morning,  in  order  to  consult  other  members  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting — as  he  was  sure  they  would 
not  be  satisfied  to  proceed  under  this  decision.  The 
clerk  said  that  he  hoped  this  question  would  not 
have  been  further  urged  by  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  as  it  seemed  to  him  to  be  unimpor- 
tant. The  presence  of  this  Friend  could  do  no 
harm — and  as  to  precedent,  (about  which  much  had 
been  said  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,) 
it  was  not  probable  a  like  case  would  soon  if  ever 
occur — and  no  minutes  of  the  trial  would  be  kept. 
Stephen  Jones,  jr.,  one  of  the  committee  on  the  ap- 
peal, said,  "  that  he  was  sorry  that  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee  should  continue  to  press  this 


EXPOSITION. 


125 


matter  in  the  manner  they  did,  and  thus  consume 
the  time,  which  ought  to  be  occupied  in  investiga- 
ting the  merits  of  the  case, — he  had  hoped  all  would 
acquiesce  in  the  decision  of  the  committee,  and  we 
might  proceed  at  once  to  the  merits  of  the  case, — if 
time  was  thus  to  be  taken  up,  in  settling  preliminary 
and  unimportant  questions,  there  would  not  be  time 
to  go  through  with  the  investigation  without  detain- 
ing the  Yearly  Meeting.  Several  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee  had  said  that  individually 
they  cared  little  about  this  question,  but  only  ob- 
jected on  account  of  precedent.  He  said  he  did  not 
apprehend  much  from  this,  as  it  was  hardly  proba- 
ble another  case  like  this  would  happen  in  the  life- 
time of  any  of  us,  and  as  no  record  of  this  matter 
w^ould  be  kept,  he  did  not  think  future  generations 
would  be  much  troubled  by  our  decision  of  this 
question."  One  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee said  that  they  were  very  desirous  to  proceed 
with  the  case — that  much  time  would  be  necessary 
to  a  full  hearing  of  it.  One  whole  day  had  now 
been  consumed  with  this  question,  and  they  feared 
others  would  arise  which  would  defeat  our  having 
a  fair  hearing — that  the  Committees  of  the  Quarter- 
terly  and  Yearly  Meetmgs,  had  often  urged  upon 
us  the  duty  of  subordination  to  superior  bodies,  and 
by  their  own  rule  they  were  now  bound  to  acquiesce, 
especially  as  it  was  not  a  very  important  question. 
If,  however,  we  could  be  assured  that  we  should 
have  an  opportunity  for  a  full  and  patient  hearing, 
we  had  no  disposition  to  oppose  any  indulgence  to 
the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  which  the  com- 
mittee on  the  appeal  were  disposed  to  grant.  W. 
A.  Robinson  said  he  understood  the  clerk  to  say  the 
decision  of  the  committee  was,  J.  W.  might  sit,  "  if 
he  chose  to" — he  wished  he  would  state,  whether, 
the  decision  was  that  he  had  a  right  to  sit,  or  that 
he  might  do  so  as  a  matter  of  indulgence.  The 
clerk  made  no  reply  to  the  question.  Arnold  Cong- 


126 


NARRATIVE  AND 


don  said  he  hoped  the  committee  would  adjourn,  it 
was  much  more  important  that  this  case  should  be 
decided  right,  than  the  time  when ;  it  would  be  better 
even  to  allow  it  to  go  to  another  Yearly  Meeting,  than 
any  thing  wrong  should  be  done.  One  of  the  Month- 
ly Meeting  Committee,  said  that  would  be  a  very 
great  wrong — it  would  be  injustice  to  the  Monthly 
Meeting,  and  subject  them  to  very  great  inconve- 
nience, and  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that  this 
committee  of  twenty  men  would  all  meet  here  again 
next  year.  W.  A.  Robinson  said  he  did  not  wish 
to  press  his  question,  but  as  he  thought  an  answer 
to  it  might  settle  this  difficulty,  he  would  like  to  have 
the  clerk  say  whether  the  committee  intended  to 
decide  that  J.  W.  had  a  right  to  sit,  or  was  allowed 
to  as  an  indulgence  granted  him.  The  clerk  replied 
that  he  did  not  know  as  he  had  any  other  answer 
to  give,  than  what  he  had  already  given  as  the  de- 
cision of  the  committee.  Tobias  Meader,  one  of  the 
committee,  said  he  considered  it  merely  as  an  in- 
dulgence, and  so  said  one  or  two  more.  Another 
of  the  committee  said  he  did  not  consider  there  had 
been  any  decision  come  to,  the  last  time  they  had 
taken  it  up — others  made  explanations  of  their 
views,  &c.  One  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee said  we  could  have  no  other  means  of  ascer- 
taining what  was  the  decision  of  the  committee  than 
what  was  given  by  its  clerk  as  such.  The  clerk  had 
stated  what  was  the  decision  of  the  committee.  We 
of  course  considered  him  the  organ  of  the  commit- 
tee. The  clerk  said  he  did  not  intend  to  have  done 
more  than  he  had  in  giving  the  decision  of  the  com- 
mittee, he  thought  that  sufficient — but  as  the  views 
of  different  members  of  the  committee  had  been  so 
much  expressed,  he  now  felt  it  proper  to  state  that 
the  committee  appeared  to  come  to  the  conclusion 
they  did  with  various  views, — perhaps  no  three  or 
four  of  them  would  agree  as  to  the  reasons  for  it; 


EXPOSITION. 


127 


but  the  decision  he  had  stated  '^as  agreed  upon, 
and  he  beUeved  he  had  given  it  correctly. 

Several  of  the  committee  said,  as  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee  wished  an  adjom-nment,  they 
thought  it  best  to  adjourn.  Stephen  Jones,  senior, 
asked  ^vhether  John  Wilbur  would  not,  for  the  sake 
of  accommodation,  be  willing  to  waive  liis  right,  and 
withdraw  ;  he  had  said  in  the  morning  that  he  did 
not  regard  his  presence  of  much  importance  to  the 
management  of  the  case.  The  clerk  said  if  the 
committee  adjourned  now,  they  would  be  obliged 
to  sit  while  the  Yearly  Meeting  was  sitting,  or  else 
the  Yearly  Meeting  must  be  detained.  He  was 
now  satisfied  that  this  case  was  of  such  importance 
as  to  justify  them  m  making  all  other  engagements 
subordinate  to  it.  He  should  be  sorry  to  lose  any 
of  the  sittings  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  he  had 
hoped  he  should  not  be  obliged  to — ^but  he  was  in 
favor  of  taking  time  to  hear  this  case.  Several  of 
the  committee  imited  in  this  view,  and  it  was  agreed 
to  meet  to-morrow,  5th  day  morning,  at  half-past 
10  o'clock. — (There  being  a  select  meeting  at  an 
earher  hour,  and  some  of  the  committee  members. 
The  committee  also  concluded  to  ask  leave  of  the 
Yearly  ^Meeting  to  sit  during  the  sittings  of  the 
meeting — several  of  the  members  of  the  committee 
being  representatives.) 

5th  day  morning,  again  met — John  Wilbur  not 
present,  having  concluded  to  attend  the  public 
meeting.  The  clerk  requested  the  appellants  to 
proceed  with  the  case.  Aid  they  commenced  read- 
ing a  statement  of  facts,  embracing  the  substance  of 
what  was  said  and  done  in  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting,  and  Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting, 
having  relation  to  this  case,  from  the  4t*h  month  to 
the  11th  inclu?ive,  1842,  and  also  some  portion  of 
the  minutes  of  the  committee  in  the  case  of  J.  Wil- 
bur ;  all  given  in  the  order  of  time  as  they  occurred. 
At  this  sitting  the  reading  was  proceeded  with  as 


128 


NARRATIVE  AND 


far  as  the  Monthly  Meeting  m  the  8th  month.  When 
that  part  was  read  relative  to  the  attempt  of  R.  G. 
and  T.  A.,  prematurely  to  break  up  the  meeting  at 
Hopkinton  in  the  8th  month,  Perez  Peck  said  lie 
wanted  it  to  be  understood  that  those  Friends  did 
not  acknowledge  that.  The  Monthly  Meeting's 
Committee  replied,  they  were  willing  to  admit  they 
did  not,  but  that  matter  would  be  gone  into  at  the 
proper  time — that  they  had  full  proof  of  it.  The 
committee  adjourned  to  meet  at  2  o'clock,  P.  M. 

The  reading  was  resumed  and  concluded  at  this 
sitting,  after  which  the  appellants  laid  down  twelve 
principal  positions  which  they  intended  to  establish, 
and  upon  which  they  should  rest  their  case.  These 
were  reduced  to  writing,  and  at  the  request  of  the 
clerk  afterwards  placed  in  his  hands.  The  commit- 
tee then  adjourned  to  meet  again  at  the  rising  of  the 
P.  M.  sitting  of  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

5  o'clock,  P.  M.,  again  met.  The  appellants  said 
they  were  now  through  with  their  statements  of 
facts,  and  supposed  the  regular  order  of  proceeding 
would  be  for  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  to 
go  forward  with  their  part  of  the  case,  and  when 
they  were  through,  for  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee to  make  their  closing  plea.  Perez  Peck  ob- 
jected, saying  that  courts  of  law  made  use  of  these 
terms,  of  opening  and  closing,  &c.,  he  hoped  they 
would  not  be  introduced  here.  They  should  want 
the  privilege  of  replying  to  the  Monthly  Meeting's 
Committee.  The  clerk  said  that  he  supposed  the 
next  thing  in  order  would  be  for  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee  to  say  how  far  they  were 
willing  to  admit  the  statement  of  facts  as  given  by 
the  appellants  to  be  true. 

The  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  raised  no 
specific  objections  to  the  statement  of  facts,  but  J. 
Metcalf  said  he  supposed  there  were  several  things 
they  ^should  not  exactly  admit — he  thought  some 
things  were  represented  in  a  different  light  from 


EXPOSITION. 


129 


what  they  should  be — that  a  coloring  was  given 
them  calculated  to  produce  wrong  impressions. 
The  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  now  com- 
menced by  calling  upon  John  Osborne  to  read  his 
minutes  of  the  proceedings  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  relating  thereto.  These  minutes  con- 
tained few  specific  accusations,  and  none  against 
the  meeting,  as  such,  other  than  it  did  not  accede 
to  the  advice  of  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committees.  A  few  expressions  of  individual 
members  were  brought  forward  as  evidence  of  the 
bad  condition  of  the  meeting,  and  many  assertions 
unsupported  by  any  proof,  of  the  turbulence  and 
confusion  of  the  meetings  in  the  transaction  of  the 
business,  laboring  to  lower  the  character  and  stand- 
ing of  the  members,  representing  them  as  destitute 
of  religious  weight  of  character,  &c.  But  said  that 
amid  these  scenes  of  turbulence  and  excitement,  the 
committee  could  but  notice  with  satisfaction  the 
quiet  conduct  and  orderly  deportment  of  that  por- 
tion of  the  members  who  disapproved  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  meeting,  affording  evidence  that  the  true 
seed  there  was  hy  no  means  extinct,  though  under  op- 
pression ! 

During  the  reading,  some  of  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing's Committee  took  notes  of  such  passages  as  they 
thought  would  require  notice,  which  at  a  subse- 
quent sitting  were  commented  on  at  some  length. 
The  committee  adjourned  to  meet  again  at  8  o'clock 
in  the  evening.  On  coming  together,  Arnold  Cong- 
don  commenced  by  commenting  on  the  authority 
and  powers  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee.  He 
said  every  conclusion  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  is  dis- 
cipline, just  as  much  so  as  if  it  was  printed  in  the 
book.  To  illustrate  his  meaning  he  referred  to  the 
document  on  doctrines  read  the  day  before,  where 
it  is  said  that  those  wanting  religious  weight  of  cha- 
racter, ought  not  to  direct  in  meetings  for  discipline.  ' 

6* 


130 


NARRATIVE  AND 


He  said  that  was  now  discipline,  and  as  binding  as 
any  former  discipline, — that  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  being  appointed  directly  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  any  advice  coming  from  them  had  all  the 
authority  of  discipline.  He  then  undertook  to  ex- 
plain the  discipline  relative  to  laying  down  a  Month- 
ly Meeting.  In  reading  this  paragraph  he  strongly 
emphasised  the  words  ought  to  submit,  saying  that 
present  submission  was  the  duty  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting — they  should  conform  to  the  judgment  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  then  appeal.  He  then 
read  the  succeeding  paragraph,  saying,  it  gave  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  the  right  either  to  dissolve  the 
Monthly  Meeting  or  to  bring  the  matter  before  the 
Yearly  Meeting, — and  the  Quarterly  Meeting  had 
concluded  to  dissolve  the  Monthly  Meeting.  He 
said  that  the  next  paragraph  was  involved  in  some 
obscurity,  but  he  thought  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  would  understand  it  as  they  did.  It  pro- 
vides for  the  joining  of  the  members  to  another 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  requires  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing to  take  care  that  no  inconvenience  thereby  en- 
sue to  them  concerning  any  branch  of  our  discipline. 
He  said  they  had  complied  with  this  requirement, 
by  annexing  the  members  to  another  Monthly 
Meeting.  They  then  proposed  to  read  from  the 
discipline  of  Indiana  and  Baltimore  Yearly  Meet- 
ings. This  was  objected  to  by  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  on  the  ground  that  the  Yearly 
Meeting  had  decided  that  the  case  must  be  tried  by 
the  discipline  of  this  Yearly  Meeting,  and  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  decided  against  the 
reading.  J.  Metcalf  said  that  what  they  wanted  to 
read  would  show  that  the  discipline  of  those  Yearly 
Meetings  gave  superior  meetings  the  right  to  annul 
records.  They  next  proposed  to  read  from  Foster's 
Reports.  This  was  objected  to  on  the  same  ground 
as  the  former,  and  decided  against  by  the  commit- 
tee. A.  Congdon  then  said,  that  what  they  proposed 


EXPOSITION. 


131 


to  read  was  the  testimony  of  Samuel  Bettle,  Thom- 
as Evans  and  Samuel  Parsons,  as  to  the  general 
usage  of  the  society.  Perez  Peck  said  that  he  had 
previously  objected  to  the  statement  in  regard  to 
the  attempt  to  break  up  the  Monthly  Meeting  at 
,  Hopkinton.  as  not  being  admitted  by  those  Friends, 
and  if  insisted  on  he  should  introduce  evidence 
showing  from  what  it  originated.  He  said  that  one 
of  those  Friends  took  hold  of  the  other's  arm,  and 
spoke  to  him  on  another  subject,  and  this  was  un- 
doubtedly what  was  seen ;  he  did  not  think  we 
meant  to  make  a  false  statement.  Two  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  said  that  was  not 
what  they  saw.  They  distinctly  saw  them  shake 
hands,  and  were  prepared  to  prove  it  by  six  credi- 
ble witnesses.  P.  Peck  said  he  hoped  we  would 
waive  this  matter — the  persons  implicated  were  not 
present  to  defend  themselves,  &c.  Several  of  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  also  expressed  a  de- 
sire that  we  would  waive  it.  J.  M.  Earle  said  he 
did  not  see  that  it  had  much  bearing  on  the  case  if 
we  did  prove  it. 

One  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  said 
that  having  introduced  it,  if  we  should  leave  it  so,  it 
might  be  construed  into  an  abandonment  of  the 
ground  we  had  taken,  and  thus  operate  against  us. 
If  left  so,  he  wanted  an  admission  from  the  commit- 
tee, that  we  vacated  no  ground  we  had  taken,  and 
that  the  omission  to  read  the  proof  should  not  be 
allowed  to  militate  against  us.  It  was  stated  by 
another  of  the  committee  that  they  were  prepared 
to  produce  written  testimony,  proving  most  conclu- 
sively the  fact  as  here  charged ; — they  were  wil- 
ling, however,  to  leave  the  subject  here,  if  there 
was  objection  to  going  further  into  it,  but  it  must  be 
distinctly  understood  that  we  have  full  proof  of  the 
facts  stated,  and  are  ready  to  produce  it  Moses 
Farnum  said  he  had  no  doubt  but  the  committee  of 
the  Monthly  Meeting  had  the  testimony  they  said 
they  had. 


132 


NARRATIVE  AND 


With  this  statement  and  admission  the  subject 
■was  left.    The  committee  soon  after  adjourned. 

Cth  day,  morning,  committee  again  met.  The 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  proceeded.  Perez 
Peck  commented  upon  the  Disciphne  relative  to  dis- 
solving Monthly  Meetings, — said  the  first  paragraph 
was  not  at  all  applicable  to  the  case — that  only  re- 
lated to  a  case  of  difference  in  a  Monthly  Meeting  ; 
this  was  a  difference  between  the  Yearly  xMeeting's 
Committee  and  a  Monthly  Meeting.  In  other  re- 
spects he  talked  about  it  much  as  Arnold  Congdon  did. 

When  the  committee  of  South  Kingston  Month- 
ly Meeting  were  commenting  upon  the  advice  to 
several  of  the  members  of  South  Kingston  Select 
Preparative  Meeting,  not  to  attend  that  meeting, 
Beriah  Collins  said,  by  way  of  explanation,  that  as 
John  Wilbur  had  been  restored  against  the  advice 
of  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committees, 
they  had  advised  him  not  to  attend  the  select  Meet- 
ing. One  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  en- 
quired of  Beriah,  whether  they  advised  any  others 
in  the  same  manner,  and  if  so,  how  many  ?  Beriah 
replied  with  apparent  reluctance,  that  they  did  so 
advise  all  who  supported  John  Wilbur. 

One  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  now 
proceeded  to  comment  on  the  power  claimed  for  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  to  trace  the  con- 
sequences to  which,  if  conceded  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  it  must  lead.  He  showed  it  would  concen- 
trate all  power  in  the  hands  of  such  committee,  and 
that  as  their  authority  is  thus  made  paramount  to 
every  thing  else,  all  pretensions  of  a  co-ordinate 
branch  of  the  Society  to  move  in  the  transaction  of 
business  under  the  guidance  of  the  Head  of  the 
Church  must  be  vain  and  futile,  that  the  right  of 
appeal  would  afford  no  protection  to  the  appellant 
against  injustice  or  abuse  of  power,  for  an  individual 
appealing  from  the  judgment  of  a  Monthly  Meeting 
acting  under  the  control  of  such  a  committee. 


EXPOSITION. 


133 


would  appeal  to  same  body,  at  whose  bidding  he 
was  disowned  in  the  first  instance.  If  it  be  ar- 
gued that  such  a  committee,  composed  of  minis- 
ters, and  elders,  &c.,  would  do  no  wrong,  he 
thought  it  would  savor  rather  too  strongly  of  the 
Papal  doctrine  of  the  infallibility  of  the  church, 
w^th  further  remarks  in  illustration  of  these  posi- 
tions. He  then  proceeded  to  review  such  portion 
of  John  Osborne's  minutes  as  had  been  noted  du- 
ring the  reading.  Among  other  things  he  said 
he  was  surprised  that  J.  Osborne  should  labor  as 
he  had  done  in  those  minutes,  to  give  the  impression 
to  this  committee,  that  three-fourths  of  the  members 
of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  are  devoid  of 
religious  or  even  moral  weight  of  character.  But 
what  evidence  had  he  adduced  to  sustain  his  posi- 
tion? Surely  nothing  better  than  assertion.  He 
maintained  that  general  charges  and  broad  asser- 
tions, unsupported  by  proof,  ought  to  weigh  nothing, 
and  he  trusted  would  weigh  nothing  with  this  com- 
mittee. That  no  charge  had  been  brought  against 
the  Monthly  Meeting  save  that  it  had  refused  to  take 
the  advice  of  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committees,  (which  had  been  answered)  and  very 
few  specific  charges  against  individual  members, 
and  those  related  only  to  improper  expressions  said 
to  have  been  uttered  by  them  in  Monthly  M  eeting. 
He  said  a  meeting  could  not  justly  be  held  respon- 
sible for  the  unguarded  expressions  of  one  or  two  of 
its  members,  that  aside  from  a  few  expressions  of 
two  members  of  the  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, he  believed  the  remarks  of  those  who  sustained 
the  course  pursued  by  the  Monthly  Meeting  were  as 
free  from  excitement  and  no  more  objectionable 
than  those  of  the  Yearly  Meetmg's  Committee. 
John  Osborne  in  order  to  strengthen  his  position 
had  liighly  extolled  the  small  number  in  that  Month- 
ly Meeting  who  sustained  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  representing  them  as  the  seed,  &c.  He 


134 


NARRATIVE  AND 


said  he  could  name  from  those  who  sustained  the 
Monthly  Meeting  a  larger  number  than  the  whole 
of  these  who  would  not  only  outweigh  them  in  point 
of  character,  moral  or  religious,  but  whose  charac- 
ters had  not  been  and  he  trusted  could  not  be  im- 
peached, some  of  whom  are  now  present, — does 
their  deportment  here  bespeak  for  them  the  charac- 
ter which  has  been  given  them  ?  He  left  the  com- 
mittee to  decide  this  question.  As  to  the  minority 
who  had  been  so  highly  eulogized,  he  was  not  dis- 
posed to  do  them  the  least  injustice,  but  thought 
they  would  by  no  means  bear  the  exalted  character 
which  had  been  awarded  to  them,  for  he  believed  it 
must  be  admitted  by  all  who  were  acquainted  in 
that  Monthly  Meeting,  that  some  of  them  at  least  did 
not  stand  remarkably  high  for  religious  weight  of 
character.  J.  Osborne  had  spoken  of  the  great  im- 
probability of  the  clerk  long  remaining  a  member, 
giving  it  as  a  reason  for  advising  the  former  clerk  to 
retain  the  records;  he  was  greatly  surprised  at  the 
expression.  What  he  had  seen  in  Samuel  Sheffield  to 
lead  him  to  such  a  conclusion,  he  knew  not,  his  charac- 
ter as  a  man  and  as  a  Friend  was  above  reproach, 
he  was  a  Friend  in  principle,  and  had  acknowledged 
it  in  the  presence  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee, and  he  was  a  consistent  friend  in  practice,  he 
was  then  present  sustaining,  by  his  deportment,  (as 
he  trusted)  the  character  he  had  given  him.  Why 
then  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  should  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  he  would  not  long  remain  a 
member,  he  could  not  conceive,  unless  they  designed 
to  disown  him,  in  the  exercise  of  the  high  authority 
they  had  assumed. 

Another  of  the  appellants  followed  with  some  ad- 
ditional remarks  and  strictures  upon  John  Osborne's 
minutes.  He  remarked,  in  the  first  place,  that  in 
his  view,  the  minutes  of  John  Osborne  were  not  cal- 
culated to  give  a  correct  impression  of  the  state  of 
things  in  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting.  A 


EXPOSITION. 


135 


stranger,  he  said,  having  no  other  means  of  informa- 
tion, would  certainly  get  a  very  erroneous  idea  from 
them.  These  minutes  w^ere  of  a  very  general  and 
indefinite  character,  specifying  but  little,  w^hereas  our 
statement  gave  an  account  of  what  was  said  and 
done,  and  furnished,  he  thought,  a  much  clearer  and 
more  correct  idea  of  the  actual  state  of  things.  We 
had  taken  down  what  could  be  recollected,  and  were 
of  course  most  likely  to  recollect  expressions  of  an 
improper  character  when  they  occurred,  that  we 
were  not  disposed  to  say  there  had  been  none  such — 
it  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if  there  had  not 
been,  considering  all  we  had  been  obhged  to  pass 
through,  but  nothing  of  this  kind  had  at  all  affected 
any  of  the  decisions  of  the  meeting.  In  our  state- 
ment we  had  made  no  comment  and  expressed  no 
opinions,  while  J.  O.'s  minutes  are  very  much  an 
expression  of  the  opinions  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee.  These  minutes  also  gave  a  statement 
from  T.  C.  Collins,  of  his  opinion  of  the  condition  of 
the  Monthly  Meeting  at  the  time  the  clerk  was 
changed,  and  this  is  adopted  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee.  By  this  authority  they  say  the 
clerk  was  not  removed  by  the  sound  and  weighty 
part  of  the  meeting.  He  tells  them  that  when  he 
left  the  table,  he  declared  it  as  his  judgment,  it  was 
not  the  sense  of  the  meeting  that  Samuel  Sheffield 
should  act  as  clerk.  This  he  said  was  very  improba- 
ble, it  was  not  recollected  by  any  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting's  Committee,  and  he  thought  the  fact  of  his 
leaving  the  table,  was  a  sufficient  refutation  of  it.  If 
this  v/as  his  judgment,  then  it  was  his  duty  to  remain 
at  the  table  ;  why  did  he  leave  it?  Besides,  it  had 
been  acknowledged  here  by  one  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee,  that  T.  C.  Collins'  excitement 
and  confusion  of  mind  was  such  that  he  scarcely 
knew  what  he  did  say  at  that  time.  J.  M.  Earle 
said,  you  have  the  fact  of  his  leaving,  which  seems 
to  me  to  be  sufficient. 


136 


NARRATIVE  AND 


The  appellant  continued : — the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  say  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee, in  the  case  of  J.  W.,  that  all  their  decisions 
were  approved  by  him.  If  by  this  they  mean  to 
say  there  was  any  understanding  between  them  and 
John  Wilbur  about  these  decisions,  we  deny  that  it 
was  so,  for  the  committee  in  every  instance  came 
to  its  decisions  without  the  presence  or  interference 
of  any  other  person.  If  J.  W.  was  satisfied  with 
what  we  believed  to  be  right,  it  was  not  our  fault. 
These  decisions  are  recorded,  and  will  show  for 
themselves  whether  they  were  unreasonable.  The 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  justify  their  refusal  to 
allow  J.  W.  to  have  any  one  with  him,  before  the  ' 
Monthly  Meeting's  Committee,  by  instancing  the 
former  example  of  a  larger  body  of  the  same  Com- 
mittee, who  to  the  number  of  about  thirty  had  an 
interview  with  him,  and  did  not  then  allow  any  to 
be  present,  not  even  his  wife.  This  was  but  an  iP" 
lustration  of  the  great  injustice  which  had  been  prac- 
ticed towards  him.  This  committee  can  judge  of 
the  character  of  such  an  act.  The  Discipline  of  the 
Society  provides  that  an  accused  person  may  have 
the  privilege  of  taking  one  or  two  with  him,  and 
this  right  was  then  plead  for  by  J.  W.,  but  denied. 

One  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  here 
said,  that  case  did  not  come  under  this  provision  of 
the  Discipline  ;  no  disciplinary  proceedings  had 
then  been  had  against  J.  W.  It  was  replied,  that 
in  addition  to  the  injustice  of  such  denial,  this  only 
proves  that  the  authority  cited  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee  to  justify  them  now,  does  not  all 
apply, — for  J.  W.  was  before  the  committee  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  under  disciplina- 
ry proceedings.  It  was  also  said  that  John  Osborne 
^  in  his  minutes  had  given  a  version  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting's  Committee's  decision,  as  to  the  matter 
which  might  be  introduced  by  J.  W.  in  his  defence, 
which  was  very  erroneous  ;  that  decision  was  given 


EXPOSITION. 


137 


in  writing  and  will  show  for  itself.  John  Osborne 
was  called  upon  again  to  read  that  portion  of  his 
minutes  relating  to  this  decision.  He  then  read  from 
his  minutes,  by  which  it  appeared  that  the  decision 
was  to  allow  J.  W.  to  introduce  any  matter  having, 
in  his  opinion,  any  hearing  on  the  case. 

The  decision,  as  recorded,  was  read,  which  al- 
lowed John  Wilbur  "  to  introduce  such  evidence 
and  documents  on  these  subjects  (doctrines)  as 
shall  appear  essentially  to  relate  ^to  his  defence." 
It  was  remarked  this  was  very  snort  of  allowing 
him  to  introduce  any  matter  he  chose  to  ;  this  was 
but  one  instance  of  the  incorrectness  of  those  minutes ; 
in  this  case  there  can  be  no  mistake,  as  the  decision 
of  the  committee  was  at  the  time  given  in  writing. 

It  was  stated  in  John  Osborne's  minutes,  that  at 
the  time  of  the  investigation  of  the  case  of  J.  W.  at 
Hopkinton,  one  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee rose,  and  pointing  to  the  door,  said  to  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  "  there  is  the  door,  you  can 
go  out  or  stay,  as  you  please."  An  explanation 
was  made  by  one  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, of  the  circumstances  under  which  something 
hke  this  was  said,  by  one  of  the  committee.  At  the 
time  referred  to,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
had  for  the  third  time  threatened  to  leave  the  investi- 
gation, unless  the  course  pointed  out  by  them  was 
pursued.  In  the  first  instance,  after  submitting  to 
the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee,  whether  J.  W. 
should  have  assistance,  and  it  was  decided  without 
a  dissenting  voice,  that  he  might,  they  said,  unless 
this  decision  was  reversed  they  should  leave.  Al^  \ 
though  the  committee  could  not  do  this,  yet  J.  W. 
consented  to  proceed  without  assistance ;  after- 
wards, upon  the  introduction  of  a  pamphlet  he  was 
charged  with  circulating,  they  again  threatened  to 
leave  if  it  was  all  read,  instead  of  the  extracts  they 
produced  ;  yet  it  was  read,  and  they  did  not  leave. 
Afterwards  J.  W.  proposed  to  enter  upon  his  de- 


138 


NARRATIVE  AND 


fence  by  introducing  the  matter  of  Doctrines,  and 
they  again  threatened  to  leave  if  this  was  allowed. 
At  this  time  it  was  that  one  of  the  committee  used 
the  expression  alluded  to.  Several  of  the  other 
members  of  the  committee  checked  him,  and  ex- 
pressed regret  that  he  should  have  so  spoken  ;  and 
such  an  unguarded  expression  being  condemned  by 
the  committee  at  the  time,  they  cannot  be  held  re- 
sponsible for  it. 

In  John  Osborne's  minutes  mention  is  made  of 
scenes  of  turbulence  and  confusion,  clamor,  &c.  A 
member  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee  said 
he  had  never,  at  any  time,  witnessed  so  great  a  de- 
gree of  excitement  and  violent  feelings  on  the  part 
of  any  members  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  as  was 
exhibited  by  one  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee on  the  occasion  above  referred  to. 

The  reading  of  the  argument  on  the  appeal,  was 
then  commenced  by  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, in  the  early  part  of  which  was  introduced  an 
extract  from  R.  Barclay,  containing  general  re- 
marks on  the  administration  of  the  Discipline,  and 
going  to  show  that  the  basis  of  good  and  right  gov- 
ernment, is  an  adherence  to  the  genuine  doctrines 
of  the  Society. 

When  the  extract  was  about  half  read,  Arnold 
Congdon  said  he  thought  the  reading  of  this  extract 
ought  not  to  be  allowed,  as  they  had  not  been  per- 
mitted to  quote  authorities  beyond  our  own  Disci- 
pline. It  was  replied,  that  this  was  not  authority 
on  which  the  Monthly  Meeting  relied  to  sustain 
their  case,  but  general  remarks  on  the  administra- 
tion of  the  Discipline,  thrown  in  as  an  introduction 
to  their  appeal ;  but  if  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee thought  it  improper,  they  would  not  read  the 
residue.  One  or  two  others  of  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing's Committee  said  they  were  willing  to  dispense 
with  the  remainder  if  it  was  thought  best.  The 
clerk  said  he  had  anticipated  this  objection,  but 


EXPOSITION. 


139 


thought  himself  there  was  a  distinction  between  re- 
ferring to  authorities  to  substantiate  particular  posi- 
tions, and  general  remarks  like  these  ;  he  thought, 
as  the  reading  had  continued  thus  far,  it  had  better 
be  concluded.  Two  or  three  others  expressed 
themselves  to  the  same  effect.  The  reading  then 
proceeded  without  further  interruption,  and  con- 
cluded about  12  o'clock. 

Some  remarks  and  explanations  of  minor  impor- 
tance having  been  made,  both  parties  here  rested 
the  case,  and  the  committee  adjourned  to  meet 
again  at  2  o'clock,  P.  M.,  at  wliich  hour  they  met, 
and  continued  together  until  7  o'clock,  when,  not 
being  ready  to  report,  and  the  Yearly  Meeting  hav- 
ing adjourned  to  meet  at  8  o'clock  seventh  day, 
morning,  the  committee  also  adjourned  to  an  earher 
hour. 

At  the  gathering  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  7th  day 
morning,  the  committee  being  through,  attended 
and  presented  two  reports,  one  signed  by  thirteen 
of  their  number,  in  favor  of  confirming  ;  the  other 
signed  by  six  of  them,  in  favor  of  reversing  the 
judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting. 

Two  of  the  committee  did  not  sign  either  report. 
That  signed  by  the  thirteen  was  adopted  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting. 

APPEAL  OF  SOUTH  KINGSTON  MONTHLY  MEETING. 

The  following  positions,  which  the  Monthly  [Meet- 
ing's Committee  proposed  to  established,  were  re- 
duced to  writing  at  the  request  of  the  clerk  of  the 
committee  on  the  Appeal,  after  the  investigation 
commenced,  and  placed  in  his  hands. 

It  is  proper  here  to  state  in  addition  to  the  follow- 
ing argument  in  defence  of  the  Monthly  Meeting, 
there  was  read  a  statement  embracing:  a  particular 
account  of  what  was  said  and  done  in  the  various 
meetings  and  Committees  in  relation  to  the  case, 


140 


NARRATIVE  AND 


and  that  whatever  is  not  brought  to  view  in  the  ar- 
gument, was  fully  shown  by  the  facts  contained  in 
that  statement. 

(For  the  document  of  Appeal,  signed  by  the 
clerk,  and  also  by  individual  members,  see  preced- 
ing Narrative,  page  93.) 

The  appellants  intend  to  establish  the  following 
positions : 

First,  that  in  the  manner  of  bringing  and  urging 
the  complaint  against  John  Wilbur  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  in  the  4th  month,  1842,  they 
disregarded  the  proper  business  and  labor  of  over- 
seers and  Preparative  Meetings,  as  well  as  the  plain 
order  of  proceedings  laid  down  in  our  Discipline 
(founded  upon  the  precepts  of  the  Saviour)  in  re- 
gard to  detraction,  a  prominent  feature  in  that  com- 
plaint, and  very  improperly  threatened  if  the  Month- 
ly Meeting  did  not  comply  with  their  requirement 
for  immediate  proceedings,  to  complain  of  it  to  the 
Quarterly  Meeting. 

Second,  that  they  interfered  with  the  rights  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting  in  the  election  of  its  officers,  by 
attempting  to  remove  its  rightful  clerk  from  the 
table,  and  to  place  another  person  there  in  his 
room. 

Third,  that  both  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committees  have  interfered  with  our  right  of 
property,  having  withheld  and  even  taken  away 
from  us  our  records  before  the  Monthly  Meeting 
was  dissolved,  or  in  any  form  compatible  with  the 
Discipline,  deprived  of  any  of  its  rightful  authority. 

Fourth,  that  they,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee, charged  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  with 
an  intention  to  effect  a  separation  in  Society,  with- 
out evidence  and  against  the  fact. 

Fifth,  that  they  themselves  gave  their  counte- 
nance and  encouragement  to  the  proposition  of  a 
disaffected  member  for  a  division  in  our  Monthly 
Meeting. 


EXPOSITION. 


141 


Sixth,  that  two  of  the  Yearly^ Meeting's  Commit- 
tee attempted  to  break  up  our  Monthly  Meeting  in 
the  8th  month,  while  the  report  in  John  Wilbur's 
case  w^as  yet  in  the  women's  meeting,  and  other 
business  remained  upon  the  table ;  that  this  was 
afterw^ards  denied  by  them,  but  fully  proved  to  be 
true. 

Seventh,  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
attempted  to  dictate  to  a  committee  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting,  the  course  of  its  proceedings  in  the  inves- 
tigation of  a  case  submitted  to  it  by  the  Monthly 
Meeting,  a  case  too,  in  w^hich  themselves  were  par- 
ties, and  failing  in  this  attempt  they  precipitately 
left,  while  the  trial  was  still  in  progress,  taking  with 
them  all  the  papers  and  documents  which  they  had 
introduced  to  sustain  their  charges. 

Eighth,  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee 
assumed  the  right  to  cancel  our  proceedings  and  re- 
cords at  pleasure,  and  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  a 
case  which  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  had 
brought  to  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  for  its 
decision,  and  which  properly  appertained  to  it  alone 
in  that  stage  of  the  proceedings.  And  they  further 
ventured  to  attempt  a  division  in  our  select  meeting 
by  advising  one  half  of  its  members  not  to  attend 
that  meeting. 

Ninth,  that  the  advice  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  to  the  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing in  the  10th  month,  1842,  is  absurd  and  improper, 
incompatible  with  the  Discipline  and  the  rights  of 
the  Monthly  Meeting  and  individuals. 

Tenth,  that  the  dissolution  of  the  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting  is  against  the  Discipline,  and 
in  violation  of  its  plainest  provisions,  in  the  follow- 
ing particulars,  viz : — 

1st.  We  have  not  received  the  judgment  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  in  vrriting. 

2d.  We  have  not  been  allow^ed  the  right  of  ap- 
peal against  such  judgment. 


142 


NARRATIVE  AND 


3d.  We  have  not  been  allov^^ed  the  right  of  ap- 
peal against  the  dissolution,  according  to  the  due 
order  of  proceeding  laid  dov^n  in  the  Discipline,  he- 
fore  the  annexation  of  our  members  to  another 
'Monthly  Meeting. 

4th.  In  that  there  is  no  Disciphne  to  warrant  the 
annulling  of  our  records. 

Eleventh,  That  the  Quarterly  Meeting  has  de- 
liberately denied  us  all  access  to  their  records,  in 
violation  of  our  rights,  secured  by  Discipline,  thus 
as  far  as  possible  denying  us  information  important 
to  us  in  conducting  this  appeal. — Even  the  minutes 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  decreeing  the  dissolution 
of  our  Monthly  Meeting,  has  been  withheld  from  us. 

Twelfth,  that  the  proceedings  against  our  Month- 
ly Meeting  throughout,  were  not  on  the  ground  al- 
leged, or  for  the  reasons  assigned,  but  the  measures 
taken  were  for  the  purpose  of  disowning  John  Wil- 
bur, and  always  directed  to  that  object. 

Argument  on  the  Appeal  to  the  Yearly  Meeting, 
sixth  month,  184S,  (by  the  Committee  thereon  ap- 
pointed by  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting.) 

If  order  and  Discipline  were  needful  in  the  days 
of  George  Fox  and  his  cotemporaries,  for  the  due 
administration  of  justice,  and  a  correct  management 
of  the  affairs  of  Truth,  by  rules  and  regulations,  in- 
stituted, established  and  recorded,  even  in  those 
purer  days  of  the  Society,  when  the  Divine  will, 
guidance  and  presence,  were  so  remarkably  known 
and  witnessed  among  them,  how  much  more  essen- 
tial in  this  our  day,  under  an  obvious  declension 
from  the  Life  and  Power  and  Wisdom  with  which 
they  were  endued,  that  the  order  and  discipline 
which  they  introduced,  not  merely  for  their  own 
times,  but  for  the  succeeding  times,  should  be  sus- 
tained and  scrupulously  regarded,  seeing  the  liabili- 
ty of  a  departure  which  might  take  place  under  a 


EXPOSITION. 


143 


lapsed  condition  of  the  church  in  after  times ;  the 
same  as  did  occur  and  fall  upon  the  Christian  Church 
in  her  early  days  ;  to  be  as  a  hedge  about  her,  lest 
the  same  might  again  befall  her  with  whom  the 
Lord  was  mindful  to  place  his  name  to  the  latest 
generations. 

And  inasmuch  as  the  leaders  of  his  people  caus- 
ed them  to  err  in  the  primitive  church,  by  lording 
it  over  the  heritage  of  God,  making  their  own  wills 
and  the  authority  with  which  they  had  vested 
themselves,  the  supreme  law  of  the  church,  George 
Fox,  from  whose  penetrating  eye,  things  past,  pre- 
sent or  to  come,  relative  to  the  church,  could  scarce- 
ly be  concealed,  who  in  order  to  avoid  the  like  again, 
labored  with  great  assiduity  and  zeal,  and  as  we 
may  well  believe,  under  the  dictates  of  best  Wis- 
dom, to  guard  and  fortify  the  church  as  much  as 
might  be,  against  the  like  as  well  as  other  depar- 
tures or  infringements  upon  her  Rights,  her  Doc- 
trines or  her  Disciphne  ;  so  that  whosoever,  whether 
among  the  leaders,  or  among  the  people  at  large, 
should  unhappily  be  left  to  disregard,  abuse  or  vio- 
late that  system  of  order,  whether  in  the  spirit  or  in 
the  letter  of  it,  there  should  be  plain  and  tangible 
rules  agreed  upon  by  all,  directing  the  course  to  be 
taken,  both  in  matters  of  the  greater  and  smaller 
consequences. 

And  Robert  Barclay  was  not  only  a  beholder  of 
that  admirable  order  of  Discipline  and  church  gov- 
ernment, suggested  by  George  Fox,  but  a  fellow- 
helper  in  its  furtherance  and  ultimate  establishment. 
In  liis  treatise  upon  the  subject  he  points  out  the 
ground  of  union,  and  prescribes  a  remedy  for  such 
defects  as  may  occur  in  the  body.  The  following 
is  extracted  from  the  first  volume  of  his  works,  be- 
ginning on  page  512. 

After  speaking  of  the  papists  and  others  placing 
conscience  in  things  that  are  absolutely  wrong,  goes 
on,  "  now  say  we,  being  gathered  together  into  the 


144 


NARRATIVE  AND 


belief  of  certain  principles  and  doctrines  without 
any  constraint  or  wordly  respect,  but  by  the  mere 
force  of  truth  upon  our  understanding,  and  its  power 
and  influence  upon  our  hearts ;  these  principles  and 
doctrines,  and  the  practices  necessarily  depending 
upon  them  are,  as  it  were,  the  terms  that  have 
drawn  us  together,  and  the  bond  by  which  we  be- 
came centered  into  one  body  and  fellowship,  and 
distinguished  from  others.  Now,  if  any  one  or  more 
so  engaged  with  us  should  arise  to  teach  any  other 
doctrine,  or  doctrines,  contrary  to  these  which  are 
the  grounds  of  our  being  one,  who  can  deny  but 
the  body  hath  power  in  such  a  case  to  declare,  this 
is  not  according  to  the  truth  we  profess ;  and  there- 
fore we  pronounce  such  and  such  doctrines  to  be 
wrong,  with  which  we  cannot  have  unity  ;  nor  yet 
any  more  spiritual  fellowship  with  those  that  hold 
them :  and  so  such  cut  themselves  off  from  being 
members  by  dissolving  the  very  bond  by  which 
they  were  linked  to  the  body.  Now,  this  cannot 
be  accounted  tyranny  and  oppression  no  more  than 
in  a  civil  society,  if  one  of  the  society  shall  contra- 
dict one  or  more  of  the  fundamental  articles  upon 
which  the  society  was  contracted,  it  cannot  be  reck- 
oned a  breach  or  iniquity  in  the  whole  society  to 
declare,  that  such  contradictors  have  done  wrong, 
and  forfeited  their  right  in  that  society  ;  in  case,  by 
the  original  constitution,  the  nature  of  the  contra- 
diction implies  such  a  forfeiture  as  usually  it  is,  and 
will  no  doubt  hold  in  religious  matters.  As  if  a  body 
be  gathered  into  one  fellowship  by  the  belief  of 
certain  principles,  he  that  comes  to  believe  other- 
wise naturally  scattereth  himself ;  for  that  the 
cause  that  gathered  him  is  taken  away,  and  so 
those  that  abide  constant  in  declaring  the  thing  to 
be  so  as  it  is,  and  in  looking  upon  him  and  witness- 
ing of  him  to  others  (if  need  be)  to  be  such,  as  he 
has  made  himself,  do  him  no  injury.  I  shall  make 
the  supposition  in  the  general,  and  let  every  people 


EXPOSITION. 


145 


make  the  application  to  themselves,  abstracting  from 
us,  and  then  let  conscience  and  reason  in  every  im- 
partial reader  declare,  whether  or  not  it  doth  not 
hold  ?  Suppose  a  people  really  gathered  anto  the 
belief  of  the  true  and  certain  principles  of  the  gos- 
pel, if  any  of  these  people  shall  arise  and  contradict 
any  of  these  fundamental  truths,  whether  has  not 
such  as  stand,  good  right  to  cast  such  an  one  out 
from  among  them,  and  to  pronounce  positively  this 
is  contrary  to  the  truth  we  profess  and  own,  and 
therefore  ought  to  be  resisted  and  not  received,  nor 
yet  he  that  asserts  it  as  one  of  us?  And  is  not  this 
obligatory  upon  all  the  members,  seeing  all  are  con- 
cerned in  the  like  care  as  to  themselves  to  hold  the 
right  and  shut  out  the  v/rong  ?  I  cannot  tell  if  any 
man  of  reason  can  well  deny  tliis,  however,  I  shall 
prove  it  next  by  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures." 
[Here  he  extracts  Gal.  1 :  8.  1  Tim.  1:  19,20. 
2  John  10.]  And  says,  "  These  Scriptures  are  so 
plain  and  clear  in  themselves  as  to  this  purpose, 
that  they  need  no  great  exposition  to  the  unbiassed 
and  unprejudiced  reader,  for  seeing  it  is  so,  that  in 
the  true  church  there  may  men  arise  and  speak  per- 
verse things  contrary  to  the  doctrine  and  gospel  al- 
ready received ;  what  is  to  be  the  place  of  those 
that  hold  the  pure  and  ancient  truth  /  Must  they 
3ook  upon  these  perverse  men  still  as  their  brethren  ? 
Must  they  cherish  them  as  fellow-members,  or  must 
they  judge,  condemn  and  deny  them  ?  We  must 
not  think  the  apostle  wanted  charity,  who  will  have 
them  accursed ;  and  that  gave  Hymansus  and 
Alexander  over  to  satan  after  that  they  had  de- 
parted from  the  true  faith,  that  they  might  learn  not 
to  blaspheme.  In  short,  if  we  must  (as  our  oppo- 
sers  herein  acknowledge)  keep  those  that  are  come 
to  own  tTie  truth  by  the  same  means  that  they  were 
gathered  and  brought  into  it ;  we  must  not  cease  to 
be  plain  with  them  and  tell  them  v.  hen  they  are 
wrong;  and  by  sound  doctrine,  both  exhort  and 

7 


146 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


convince  gainsayers.  If  the  apostles  of  Christ  of 
old,  and  the  preachers  of  the  everlasting  gospel  in 
this  day  had  tcld  all  people,  however  wrong  they 
found  them  in  their  faith  and  principles,  our  charity 
and  love  is  such  we  dare  not  judge  you,  nor  separate 
from  you ;  hut  let  us  all  live  in  love  together,  and 
everyone  enjoy  his  own  opinion,  and  all  will  he  well, 
how  should  the  nations  have  been  1  Or  what  way 
now  can  they  be  brought  to  truth  and  righteousness  1 
Woisld  not  the  devil  love  this  doctrine  well,  by 
which  darkness  and  ignorance,  error  and  confusion, 
might  still  continue  in  the  earth,  unreproved  and  un- 
condemned."  Again,  p.  554 :  "  That  this  infallible 
judgment  is  only  and  unalterably  annexed  and  seat- 
ed m  the  power  of  God,  not  to  any  particular  per- 
son or  persons,  meeting  or  assembly,  by  virtue  of 
any  settled  ordination,  office,  place  or  station,  that 
such  may  have,  or  have  bad  in  the  church  ;  no  man, 
men  or  meeting,  standing  or  being  invested  with 
any  authority  in  the  church  of  Christ  upon  other 
terms  than  so  long  as  he  or  they  abide  in  the  living 
sense  and  unity  of  the  life  in  their  own  particu- 
lars," &c. 

And  the  ministration  of  these  rules  of  Discipline 
which  those  who  have  gone  before  us  laid  down, 
under  the  guidance  and  superintendency  of  His 
spirit,  who  is  the  head  of  the  church,  is  indeed  one 
of  the  greatest  outward  blessings  that  has  been 
vouchsafed  to  her,  all  along  from  the  early  days 
of  the  Society  of  Friends  to  the  present  time.  But 
however  good  and  wholesome  this  disciplines  to  the 
body,  yet  if  it  should  unhappily  be  wrested  or  per- 
verted from  its  original  intention,  by  unskilful  or 
unhallowed  hands,  it  will  scatter  instead  of  gather- 
ing, it  will  wound  instead  of  healing,  it  will  destroy 
mstead  of  restoring  to  hfe." 

The  appeal  which  is  now  offered  for  the  conside- 
ration and  determination  of  the  Yearly  Meeting 
from  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  probably 


APPEAL. 


147 


involves  the  deepest  interest,  and  most  important 
and  serious  consideration  of  any  case  that  has  ever 
occun-ed  in  the  Society  in  New  England  ;  without 
a  precedent  and  without  an  example ;  we  trust,  there- 
fore that  the  Yearly  Meeting  or  its  committee,  will 
give  it  such  patient  and  careful  attention,  as  will 
be  commensurate  with  its  importance.  And  we 
think  it  proper  to  state  in  the  first  place,  that  we  are 
not  aware  that  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting 
has  violated  our  discipline  during  the  course  of  its 
late  proceedings,  complained  of  by  the  committees, 
although  as  has  heretofore  happened  in  many  meet- 
ings for  discipline,  in  the  discussion  of  subjects  of 
an  exciteable  cast,  undesirable  expressions  have  es- 
caped some  of  those  who  have  taken  part  therein  ; 
so  with  us,  in  the  late  very  important  transactions, 
the  manner  of  speaking  has  in  a  few  instances  been 
undesirable,  and  which  we  regret,  not  effecting, 
however,  any  decision.  But  we  now  inform  the 
committee  on  tliis  appeal,  that  we  feel  ourselves  ag- 
grieved, and  our  rights,  (delegated  to  us  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting.)  as  also  the  Discipline,  to  have 
been  violated,  as  we  shall  make  appear  in  the  fol- 
lowing statement :  First,  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee ;  second,  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee,  and  third,  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
itself. 

1st.  By  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  the 
rights  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  and  the 
order  of  our  Discipline  were  violated  by  their  com- 
pelling said  Monthly  Meeting  to  act  immediately 
upon  their  complaint  against  one  of  its  members. 
Without  suffering  it  to  go  first  to  the  overseers,  and 
to  come  up  to  the  Monthly  Meeting  through  the 
Preparative  Meeting,  agreeable  to  all  the  order  of 
disciplinary  proceedings ;  and  at  the  same  time 
threatened  the  Monthly  Meeting,  that  if  it  did  refer 
it  to  the  overseers,  and  thus  avoid  immediate  action 
upon  it,  by  the  appointment  of  a  committee  at  that 


148 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


time,  that  they  would  complain  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  ;  averr- 
ing that  as  they  were  appointed  ]by  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  they  were  clothed  with  the  authority  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  therefore  had  a  right  to 
make  this  requirement  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  the 
order  of  the  society  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding, 
a  power  which  we  conceive  the  Yearly  Meeting  it- 
self has  no  right  to  exercise  against  its  own  order, 
and  especially  when  the  rights  of  meetings  or  in- 
dividuals are  affected  by  it.  Neither  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting  nor  any  of  its  members  felt 
a  disposition  to  avoid  a  due  examination  of  the  case, 
thinking  it  quite  time  that  the  reproaches  which  the 
committee  had  been,  in  a  manner,  publicly  heap- 
ing upon  one  of  our  members,  should  be  wiped 
away,  if  without  cause,  and  if  with  just  cause,  an 
early  investigation  was  certainly  needful — and  the 
Monthly  Meeting  were  desirous  of  no  more  delay 
than  was  requisite  for  regular  proceedings,  agree- 
able to  Discipline  and  usages  of  the  Society. 

2nd.  The  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  soon  af- 
ter our  last  Yearly  Meeting,  attended  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  then  and  there  made  an  ef- 
fort to  remove  our  clerk  from  the  table  for  the  pur- 
pose of  placing  another  person  there,  a  measure 
which  they  proposed  under  the  profession  of  restor- 
ing unity  ;  but  they  were  told  that  the  present  clerk 
was  chosen  but  the  month  before,  by  the  expression 
of  three-fourths  of  the  meeting.  And  the  commit- 
tee was  also  reminded,  that  it  would  seem  to  be  a 
very  singular  way  of  restoring  unity,  (if  wanting,) 
thus  to  remove  a  clerk  who  was  appointed  by  three- 
fourths  of  the  meeting ;  to  displease  three-fourths 
of  a  meeting  for  the  sake  of  pleasing  one-fourth, 
upon  the  plea  of  restoring  unity,  would  be  contra- 
ry to  the  plainest  dictates  of  reason.  Moreover, 
for  a  committee  of  a  superior  meeting  to  attempt 
the  removal  of  a  good  clerk  from  the  table  of  a 


APPEAL. 


149 


subordinate  meeting,  in  order  to  bring  in  one  of  their 
own  choice,  would  be  a  precedent,  if  yielded  to, 
tending  to  consequences  destructive  to  the  safety  of 
society.  This  proposition  being  closely  pressed  by 
the  committee,  was  considered  by  the  Monthly 
Meeting  too  great  a  depredation  upon  their  rights, 
to  be  acceded  to,  seeing  that  no  good  cause  could 
be  assigned  for  it. 

3rd.  And  a  still  greater  depredation,  upon  both 
the  rights  and  property  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  was  the  frank  acknowledgment  of  the  com- 
mittee in  that  Monthly  Meeting,  that  they  had  ad- 
vised the  former  clerk  to  withhold  the  books  and 
papers  from  it.  And  whilst  speaking  of  this  proper- 
ty, we  w^ill  mention,  that  a  committee,  subsequent- 
ly appointed  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  not  only 
gave  the  same  advice  to  our  former  clerk,  but  ac- 
tually came  themselves,  and  without  our  leave,  took 
away  our  books  and  papers  out  of  our  limits,  from  a 
constituted  and  legally  authorised  body  and  branch 
of  New  England  Yearly  Meeting.  And  their  plea 
for  this  outrage  was,  that  they  were  afraid  of  a  sepa- 
ration, but  the  sequel  will  show  whether  they  and 
their  adherents,  or  we,  were  readiest  for,  or  most 
rightfully  chargeable  with  an  intention  of  a  separa- 
tion, whereby  the  fallacy  of  such  a  plea  will  appear, 
unless  indeed,  they  then  intended  themselves  to  bring 
it  about.  But  suppose  a  man  should  conclude  to 
dissolve  fellow^ship  with  a  society,  or  a  comm.unity, 
does  that  conclusion  vest  that  society,  or  that  com- 
munity, with  authority  to  seize  on  his  property,  and 
to  take  it  from  him  without  his  knowledge  or  Hber- 
ty?!!  Can  a  man  be  found  that  will  answer  this 
question  in  the  affirmative  ?  And  can  a  man  be 
found,  who  will  say  that  any  man,  or  body  of  men, 
without  incurring  both  guilt  and  dishonor,  can  come 
into  our  enclosure  and  take  away,  without  liberty, 
books  that  we  had  purchased  with  our  money,  and 
therein  recorded  our  marriages  and  the  births  of 


150 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


our  children,  and  by  such  evidence  established  the 
certainty  of  those  marriages,  and  consequently  the 
legitimacy  of  our  children  ?  No  !  nor  have  we  any 
conception  how  any  man,  or  body  of  men,  scrupu- 
lous of  regarding  even  moral  integrity,  can  sanction 
such  a  procedure. 

At  the  same  time  they  unjustly  charged  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  with  doing  its  business 
out  of  doors,  which  was  not  true,  and  therefore  could 
not  be  proved. 

4th.  At  the  close  of  the  business  in  South  Kings- 
ton Monthly  Meeting  in  the  7th  month  last,  W.  S. 
P.,  one  of  the  members,  devoted  to  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing's Committee,  proposed  that  those  who  were  in 
unity  with  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  its  committee, 
and  the  'proceedings  of  that  committee,  should  re- 
main in  the  house,  with  which  proposition  T.  C.  C, 
another  member  in  like  circumstances,  expressed 
unity,  and  proposed  that  the  women  should  be  in- 
formed of  it.  With  which  proposition  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  united,  but  a  friend  objected 
to  the  proposition  as  looking  like  a  plan  for  separa- 
tion— he  was  opposed  to  any  scheme  for  a  separa- 
tion, and  hoped  the  proposition  would  be  rejected, 
and  several  other  friends  spoke  to  the  same  effect, 
approving  of  the  stand  that  had  been  made  against 
this  extraordinary  proposition,  &c. ;  and  it  was  said, 
if  we  are  about  to  commit  ourselves,  let  it  be  to  prin- 
ciples, and  not  to  men.  And  another  friend  said,  he 
was  surprised  at  this  attempt  to  draw  lines  of  divi- 
sion among  us  by  the  introduction  of  this  extraordi- 
nary test ;  he  considered  it  a  very  improper  test, 
and  one  which  he  thought  ought  never  to  be  appli- 
ed,— he  could  not  conceal  his  surprise  that  the  Year- 
ly Meeting's  Committee,  professing  to  come  to  re- 
store unity  and  harmony,  should  give  this  scheme 
the  countenance  they  had  done — he  viewed  the 
proposition  as  very  objectionable,  and  hoped  it 
would  not  receive  any  encouragement  from  the 


APPEAL. 


151 


meeting.  We  were  ready  to  say,  that  we  had  full 
unity  with  the  well  known  principles  of  friends,  and 
no  more  ought  to  be  required.  T.  A.,  one  of  the 
committee,  said  that  a  man  might  be  entirely  sound 
in  doctrine  and  yet  be  very  far  from  being  in  wnity 
with  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

And  more  fully  to  show,  -that  both  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  and  some  of  our  members  who 
adhered  to  them,  intended  to  bring  about  a  separa- 
tion, we  need  but  notice,  in  addition  to  the  above, 
that  when  it  was  desired  that  the  women's  meeting 
might  be  notified  of  the  proposition,  some  one  said, 
that  the  women  had  risen.  R.  G.,  one  of  the  Year- 
ly  Meeting's  Committee,  replied,^'" they  can  easily 
be  collected  again."  The  same  Friend  had  previ- 
i  ously  commended  the  proposition,  because  he  said 
W.  S.  P.  made  it  in  so  weighty  a  manner.  And 
furthermore,  during  the  discussion,  when  the  propo- 
sition was  repeatedly  spoken  of  as  a  scheme  for  a 
separation,  the  committee  d.d  not  disclaim  it  as  such, 
nor  make  any  attempt  to  clear  themselves  from 
such  an  intent  on.  And  moreover,  T.  C.  C.  after- 
wards acknowledged,  that  his  expectation  was  that 
the  proposition  would  result  in  a  separation.  And 
W.  S.  P.,  who  introduced  the  proposition,  on  being 
asked  if  he  anticipated  that  a  separation  would 
thereby  be  effected,  replied,  "  What  use  in  remain- 
ing together  when  so  much  disunity  exists 

Here  it  seems  necessary  again  to  refer  to  their 
reason,  the  month  before,  for  advising  our  former 
elerk  to  refuse  our  books  and  papers,  to  wit,  the  ap- 
prehension of  a  separation.  When  this  I'eason  was 
rendered,  the  idea  was  entertained,  that  they  sus- 
pected the  three-fourths,  who  thought  best  for  Sam- 
uel Sheffield  to  be  clerk,  would  separate  themselves 
from  the  one-fourth,  who  favored  T.  C.  C.  for  that 
service ;  groundless  was  that  apprehension,  as  in 
the  sequel  is  abundantly  proved.  Little  did  we  then 
think  that  their  determination  was  such  to  choose 


152 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


a  clerk  to  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  as  to 
resort  to  such  a  measure  as  this  ;  to  divide  asunder 
a  Monthly  Meeting,  and  to  take  its  property,  and 
give  it  to  such  as  they  should  succeed  in  drav^ing 
Irom  it,  although  it  might  be  but  a  fourth  part. 
Than  which,  if  greater  disorder  was  ever  practiced 
by  a  Committee  of  a  Yearly  Meeting,  appointed  to 
promote  unity,  or  if  greater  abuse  was  everinflicted 
wpon  a  Monthly  Meeting  and  its  rights,  we  must  say 
that  we  have  never  been  made  acquainted  with  it. 

And  our  astonishment  was  greatly  increased  to 
see,  that  even  after  they  had  had  some  days  to  re- 
flect upon  it,  they  should  make  complaint  to  the 
Quarterl}^  Meeting  the  following  w^eek,  charging- 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  with  disorder,  a 
want  of  unity,  and  insubordination  ! !  As  to  disor- 
der, the  committee  we  are  now  addressing  wull  be 
able,  from  the  foregoing,  to  judge  to  whom  the 
charge  belongs.  And  as  to  unity,  they  will  see  who 
it  was  that  attempted  a  breach,  so  unlikely  ever  to 
be  healed,  if  that  attempt  had  been  successful.  And 
our  insubordination  consisted  in  our  standing  for  our 
rights  which  the  discipline  had  dictated  and  guaran- 
teed to  us  as  a  Monthly  Meeting,  in  ehoosing  our 
officers.  When  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
complained  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  for 
disorder,  insubordination,  &c.,  no  judgment,  or  de- 
cision of  the  case,  which  they  brought,  had  been 
come  to,  it  being  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  committee 
unreported  to  the  Monthly  Meeting. 
•  5th.  Divers  overt  acts  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
/  Committee,  manifest  in  their  attempts  to  coerce 
John  Wilbur  and  the  Committee  of  our  Monthly 
/  Meeting,  when  their  case  was  on  trial,  to  an  unrea- 
(  sonable  conformity  to  their  wishes,  are  proper  in 
this  place  to  be  noticed.  They  threatened  to  leave 
on  several  occasions  ;  1st.  If  the  Monthly  Meeting'^ 
Committee  suftered  J.  W.  to  have  any  friend  to  as- 
sist him ;  2d.  If  they  admitted  his  request,  to  have 


APPEAL. 


153 


read^the  anonymous  pamphlet,  which  they  accused 
him  with  spreading ;  3d.  They  threatened  to  leave 
if  they  allowed  him  the  right  of  alluding  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  society  in  his  defence  before  the  com- 
mittee. And  when  the  committee  decided  that  he 
should  be  so  heard,  they  did  leave ;  which  was  after 
they  had  stated  the  case,  and  plead  on  their  part, 
taking  with  them  their  own  complaint,  and  papers, 
including  several  which  were  essential  for  his  exam- 
ination, in  making  his  defence :  and  were  reprehen- 
sible, as  we  think,  (such  of  them  as  had  offered 
themselves  as  witnesses  in  the  case  under  investi- 
gation,) in  refusing  to  answer  questions  that  were 
propounded  to  them,  such  as  in  the  judgment  of  the 
committee  were  proper  in  the  case. 

In  remarking  upon  the  argument  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  that  a  recurrence  to  the  doc- 
trines  of  Friends  was  irrelevant  to  the  case,  it  is 
proper  for  us  to  state,  that  in  their  complaint  they 
had  charged  one  of  our  members  with  circulating  a 
pamphlet  which  went  to  reproach  our  doctrines  and 
tended  to  close  up  the  way  of  a  minister  in  this 
country  with  a  certificate,  and  with  writing  and  cir- 
culating letters  which  had  the  same  tendency,  now 
produced  by  themselves,  which  letters  contained 
his  remarks  upon,  and  extracts  from  the  printed 
doctrines  of  J.  J.  Gurney,  the  Friend  alluded  to. 
And  John  Wilbur  made  it  appear  that  the  first  in- 
timation of  the  committee's  uneasiness  with  him,  was 
his  writing  letters  to  his  friends  ;  and  that  those  let- 
ters, as  now  brought  and  made  to  appear  by  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  themselves,  had  little 
or  no  allusion  to  that  author's  personal  character,  but 
rested  upon  his  doctrines.  And  J.  W.  did  then  and 
there  ask  for  an  opportunity  of  showing  that  the 
doctrines  thus  alluded  to,  were  the  root  and  ground 
of  this  difficulty  ;  and  were  so  palpably  at  variance 
with  the  fundamental  and  well  known  doctrines  of 
the  society,  as  to  warrant,  and  even  to  require,  in 
7* 


154 


MONTHLY  MEKTlNc'g 


conformity  with  our  discipline,  his  applying,  in  the 
first  place  to  the  author,  and  subsequently,  as  that 
labor  proved  ineffectual,  to  inform  divers  ministers 
and  elders  of  his  exercise  relative  to  those  objec- 
tionable doctrines.  And  J.  W.  did  call  on  the  com- 
mittee to  prove  that  any  proceedings  of  his,  aside 
from  his  recurrence  to,  and  exposure  of,  the  doc- 
trines of  J.  J.  Gurney,  had  any  tendency  to  close 
up  his  way,  whilst  travelling  in  this  country  with  a 
certificate, — as  charged  in  the  complaint,  but 
without  success.  And  it  is  too  obvious  to  admit  of 
dispute,  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  did 
come  forward  in  a  defence  and  support  of  J.  J.  G., 
as  clearly  proved  by  their  own  document  of  com- 
plaint against  J.  W.,  attested  by  their  own  signa- 
tures,— hence  they  have  thereby,  as  clearly  identi- 
fied themselves  w^ith  his  doctrines  as  did  the  defend- 
ers of  Elias  Hicks  identify  themselves  with  his  doc- 
trines ;  and  perhaps  with  about  as  much  justice, 
claim  to  hold  to  our  original  principles  ;  unless  they 
will  yet  redeem  the  time,  and  acquit  themselves  by 
a  formal  and  designate  condemnation  of  such  of  his 
sentiments  as  are  at  variance  with  the  doctrines  of 
Friends.  Hence  we  can  but  see  their  unfairness, 
not  to  say  equivocation,  in  refusing  to  hear  the  case 
argued  in  a  doctrinal  point  of  view. 

The  Quarterly  Meeting  having  appointed  a  com- 
mittee in  the  8th  month  last,  to  join  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  and  to  render  advice  and  as- 
sistance, &c.,  they  attended  our  ensuing  Monthly 
Meeting,  when  the  report  of  our  committee  in  the 
well  known  case  was  to  be  acted  upon,  and  there 
claimed  the  right  of  being  incorporated  and  embo- 
died, and  declared  that  they  were  incorporated  and 
embodied  with  the  Monthly  Meeting,  in  judging 
upon  such  matters  as  should  come  before  it ;  and 
even  went  further,  and  claimed  the  right  and  pre- 
rogative to  dictate  to  the  Monthly  Meeting  all  its 
proceedings,  and  even  to  abohsh  its  recorded  acts 


AFP£AL. 


155 


for  months  past.  But  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  saw  things  differently,  under  an  apprehen- 
sion that  our  discipline  makes  Monthly  Meetings  the 
sole  judges  of  all  complaints  against  their  own  mem- 
bers, until  appealed  from  to  a  superior  meeting,  and 
did  not  admit  the  assumption  of  the  Committee  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting,  as  being  thus  incorporated 
and  clothed  with  such  powers,  knowing  of  no  dis- 
cipline, good  reason,  or  former  usage  tlmt  would 
justify  or  sustain  such  an  assumption  ;  and  least  of 
all,  to  abolish  records  of  former  proceedings.  Fur^ 
thermore,  this  Committee  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
for  discipline  assumed  the  right  and  authority  of 
dictation  to  the  meeting  of  ministers  and  elders,  and 
exercised  that  right  and  authority,  so  far  as  to  at- 
tempt to  divide  asunder  the  select  preparative  meet- 
ing of  South  Kingston,  by  gravely  and  earnestly 
advising  one  half  of  its  members  not  to  attend  it. 

That  such  committees  are  and  can  be  commission- 
ed to  advise  and  explain,  will  be  agreed,  but  cannot 
be  clothed  with  judiciary  powers,  in  a  subordinate 
meeting,  because  such,  if  attempted,  would  be  an 
infraction  upon  the  plain  and  practical  provisions  of 
our  discipline,  in  the  travel  of  cases  from  the  lowej: 
to  the  higher  tribunal,  wisely  ordained  for  the  avoid- 
ing of  all  abuse  or  imposition,  not  only  by  us  in  our 
excellent  order  of  church  government,  but  also  of 
the  highest  importance  in  the  civil  department  of 
proceedings  amongst  men. 

Therefore,  when  such  a  committee  has  advised 
and  explained,  there  its  mission  terminates.  If  such 
an  interference  be  proposed  for  adoption,  in  points 
purely  judicial,  or  in  the  determination  of  alleged  of- 
fences, we  would  say,  better  far  to  constitute  one 
body  the  sole  tribunal  of  all  offences.  And  in  con- 
cluding this  paragraph,  we  would  notice  an  assump- 
tion of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  viz.,  that 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  had  disqualified  from  acting, 
one  of  the  committee  appointed  by  South  Kingston 


150 


MONTHLY  MEETJNG^S 


Monthly  Meeting  on  its  appeal,  hy  placing  Mm  un- 
der dealing  !  But  we  would  ask,  whence  does  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  derive  its  authority  for  placing 
any  member  of  Society  under  deaUng  ?  If  it  can 
place  one  member  of  that  committee,  appointed  to 
prosecute  an  appeal  against  its  own  acts,  under 
dealing,  and  thereby  disqualify  him  from  attending 
to  the  duties  of  his  appointment,  then,  forsooth,  it 
can  place  every  member  of  that  committee  under 
dealing,  and  thus,  of  their  own  power,  foreclose  an 
investigation  of  their  own  proceedings  ! 

At  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  held  at 
Hopkinton,  10th  month,  1842,  a  few  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committee  attended,  and  presented 
a  document  of  advice,  purporting  to  have  been 
drawn  up  at  Hopkinton  that  morning,  signed  by 
four  out  of  a  committee  of  nfteen,  and  will  be  found 
at  page 

And  the  committee  seemed  disposed  to  call  on 
the  Monthly  Meeting  for  immediate  action  on  their 
advice.  But  inasmuch  as  they  informed  the  meet- 
ing that  all  the  committee  had  not  seen  it,  as  was 
indicated  by  the  time  and  place  of  its  execution, 
and  inasmuch,  too,  as  it  contained  things  altogether 
new  and  unexampled,  and  of  a  serious  and  doubtful 
nature,  involving  in  its  consideration  and  decision,, 
as  might  be,  the  very  existence  of  the  Monthly 
Meeting,  it  was  therefore  concluded  to  be  referred^ 
and  the  committee  were  informed  that  the  meeting 
felt  itself  unequal,  at  once  to  decide  upon  questions 
of  such  magnitude  without  further  considerationy 
and  that  it  would  therefore  be  referred  for  one 
month* 

This  contmittee  however  reported  to  the  Quarterly 
Meeting,  (which  occurred  on  the  week  following,) 
recommending  a  dissolution  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  the  annexation  of  its  mem- 
bers to  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting. 


AFPEAL. 


157 


Review  o  f  a  document  presented  to  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  hy  Rhode  Island  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee,  dated  10th  month  2Athy 
1842,  containing  objections  to  the  proceedings  of 
said  Monthly  Meeting,  when  held  in  the  5th  and 
Sth  months  preceding,  with  their  advice  and  re- 
quirements that  said  Monthly  Electing  should  dis- 
annul and  reverse  divers  of  their  transactions  and 
conclusions  therein.^ 

First, — They  say,  "that  the  placing  of  Samuel 
Sheffield  at  the  table  to  act  as  clerk,  was  irregular 
and  disorderly,  and  by  which  the  feelings  and 
views  of  many  of  its  members  were  w^holly  disre- 
garded." Replied  to  as  follows  :  The  number  of 
those  Friends  whose  feelings  and  views  they  say 
were  wholly  disregarded,  was  very  small,  at  most 
not  a  fourth  part  of  those  who  spoke  to  the  case* 
And  would  it  most  harmonize  with  the  committee^s 
views,  in  relation  to  regularity  and  order,  for  the 
feelings  and  views  of  three-fourths  of  a  meeting  (and 
that  number  containing  the  most  weighty  Friends,) 
to  be  wholly  disregarded,  in  order  that  those  of 
one-fourth  should  be  sustained  ? 

If  this  committee  had  been  present,  they  must 
have  seen  that  if  there  was  any  thing  "  irregular  or 
disorderly"  in  that  transaction,  it  was  chargeable 
upon  T.  C.  C,  and  those  few  who  supported  him, 
by  their  long  i^sistance  to  the  voice  and  general 
sense  of  the  meeting. 

It  had  been  the  practice  for  some  time  in  our 
men^s  meeting,  at  the  time  for  the  appointment  of 
clerks  and  other  officers,  for  the  representatives  of 
the  preparative  meetings,  to  meet  previously  and 
propose  names  to  the  Monthly  Meeting.    On  this 


•For  th«  docxuncnt  here  reriewed  seepage  83, 


158 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


occasion,  the  representatives  met  and  were  not  able 
to  agree  on  names  for  clerks,  which  was  reported 
to  the  meeting, — viz.,  that  they  were  equally  divi- 
ded. Now,  no  one  will  pretend  to  say  that  the  bare 
nomination  of  an  officer,  by  the  representatives  of 
inferior  meetings,  is  conclusive  on  the  superior 
meeting,  even  if  there  was  no  discrepancy  of  opin- 
ion among  them.  The  nomination  of  an  officer  ig 
one  thing,  and  his  appointment  and  installation  is 
another  thing,  and  ought  to  be  so,  because  many 
other  members  of  such  meeting  7nay  have  better 
knowledge  of  some  disqualifying  trait  in  a  man's 
character  and  conduct  than  any  of  those  represent 
tatives.  But  the  actual  transaction  was  this, — the 
time  for  which  the  former  clerk  was  appointed  had 
expired  ;  the  usual  time  for  making  the  appointment 
had  come,  and  the  Monthly  Meeting  must  have  a  clerk, 
either  by  the  continuance  of  the  former,  or  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  new  one  ;  and  the  representatives  had 
not  reconciled  their  views  in  relation  to  it ;  where^ 
upon  the  meeting,  not  giving  the  preference  to 
either  of  those  talked  of  in  the  representatives* 
meeting,  agreed  upon  a  third  person,  and  him  it  ap- 
pointed for  its  clerk,  and  that  without  any  expressed 
objection  to  the  individual  by  any  one  present.  And 
this  practice  of  naming  as  well  as  of  appointing  a 
clerk  immediately  by  the  meeting  has  been  the  an- 
cient usage  and  practice  of  South  Kingston  Months 
ly  Meeting  from  its  first  organization  until  within  a 
few  years ;  and  the  same  practice  has  prevailed  in 
the  preparative  meetings,  and  in  our  women's  meet- 
ing up  to  this  time.  Nor  can  there  be  found  any 
conclusion  on  our  records  cancelling  that  practice, 
or  estabhshing  any  other  to  the  forfeiture  of  the 
right  vested  in  our  Monthly  Meeting,  of  naming  its 
own  officers. 

Second, — The  committee  further  state,  "that 
they  are  satisfied  that  Samuel  Sheffield  took  his 
seat  at  the  table,  and  made  the  minute  appointing 
himself,  out  of  the  usual  and  long  established  order 


APPEAL. 


159 


of  said  meeting  in  the  appointment  of  its  clerk."  To 

which  we  remark  as  follows  :  That  T.  C.  C.  having 
served  this  meeting  as  clerk  for  many  years,  has, 
as  we  believe,  in  every  case  of  his  re-appointment, 
that  is  every  year,  (to  use  the  committee's  own 
words.)  "  made  the  minute  appointing  himself" 
And  the  same  has  been  the  case  under  similar  cir- 
cumstances, in  relation  both  to  Quarterly  and  Year- 
ly Meeting's  clerks,  if  not  in  all  business  meetings 
in  New  England.  But  that  it  is  usual,  where  a 
new  selection  is  made,  for  the  former  clerk  to  make 
the  minute  of  the  appointment  of  the  new  one,  we 
shall  not  pretend  to  gainsay ;  but  do  subscribe 
freely  to  the  propriety  of  such  a  usage  ; — but  we 
would  ask,  who  was  in  fault  that  it  was  not  so  done 
on  the  occasion  in  question  ?  T.  C.  C.  was  request- 
ed to  make  the  minute  of  Samuel  Sheffield's  ap- 
pouitment,  but  refused  doing  so,  and  left  the  table 
saying,  "  that  it  was  not  customary." 

Who  then  will  say  that  it  was  improper  or  in- 
decorous for  the  new  clerk  to  go  to  the  table  and 
make  the  minute  of  his  own  appointment,  when  the 
table  was  vacated,  and  the  meeting  requested  him  to 
do  so?  And  if  any  indecorum  was  manifested  on 
the  occasion,  was  it  not  on  the  part  of  T.  C.  C,  by 
remaining  long  at  the  table  and  advocating  his  own 
claims,  after  the  question  had  been  fully  decided  by 
the  meeting;  as  well  as  by  the  manner  of  liis  leav- 
ing the  table  ? 

Third, — They  object  to  the  addition  made  at  this 
time  to  the  committee  appointed  the  month  before, 
pronouncing  it  "  contrary  to  the  general  usage  of 
our  Society'^ 

To  prove  that  such  has  been  the  frequent  usage 
of  the  Society,  we  need  but  refer  to  the  recollection 
of  every  intelligent  member  of  it.  But  we  might 
refer  to  our  own  records  for  proof  of  such  practice, 
if  indeed  this  committee  had  not  taken  them  from 
us  !  and  ail  access  to  them  since  been  denied  us  I 


MONTHLY  MEETING*S 


We  would  call  the  attention  of  Friends  particularly 

to  the  usage  of  both  our  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  our 
Select  Quarterly  Meeting,  within  the  last  two  or 
three  years,  in  relation  to  additions  to  committees. 

But  if  any  thing  were  needed  to  show  the  utter 
inconsistency  of  this  charge,  we  have  it  in  the  fact, 
that  at  the  time  when  the  first  four  were  appointed, 
in  the  4th  month,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
(while  urging  the  immediate  appointment  of  a  com- 
mittee on  the  case,)  themselves  suggested  to  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  that  they  could  make 
an  addition  at  their  next  meeting,  if  desirable,  on 
account  of  the  smallness  of  the  meeting  at  that 
time  !  !  And  they  afterwards,  in  the  7th  month, 
consented  to  an  addition  to  another  committee  in 
our  meeting ! 

Besides,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  ac- 
knowledged the  whole  of  the  committee  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  by  proceeding  with  their  case 
against  John  Wilbur  before  them, — and  refusing  to 
proceed  with  any  one  present  but  the  committee  and 
John  Wilbur;  threatening  to  leave  if  the  committee 
was  not  select.  When  it  was  so,  they  produced 
their  documents,  and  proceeded  with  the  case, 
without  objecting  to  any  of  the  committee,  upon 
any  ground  whatever. 

Fourth. — They  say  that  they  "have  cause  io  ap- 
prehend from  the  manner  in  which  the  committee 
was  selected,  and  from  their  relationship  to  the  in- 
dividual under  care,  it  was  with  a  view  to  prevent 
an  impattial  exercise  of  our  Christian  discipline" 

This  high  charge  and  accusation  of  design  in 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  to  prevent  an 
impartial  exercise  of  our  Disciphne,  is  well  known, 
as  wo  trust,  by  all  who  took  a  part  in  that  nomina- 
tion, to  be  equally  unfounded  and  unjust ! 

But  inasmuch  as  we  have  no  discipline  which 
excludes  or  exempts  relations  from  such  service  in 
the  church,  it  has  with  us  always  been  considered 


APPEAL. 


161 


to  be  discretionary  with  Monthly  Meetings  to  ap- 
point such  as  are  thought  most  suitable  for  the  ser- 
vice, as  was  done  in  the  present  case.  It  is  true 
that  several  of  the  committee  are  distantly  related 
to  John  Wilbur,  but  not  one  of  them  stands  within 
the  line  prescribed  by  our  DiscipHne,  as  being  a  re- 
lationship unsuitable  for  the  marriage  connexion. 
Besides,  two  of  those  appointed  without  objection  in 
the  fourth  month,  when  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee were  present — were  relations  of  John 
Wilbur. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, at  this  late  j>eriod,  should  have  come  for- 
ward with  objection  to  the  addition,  as  well  as  the 
relationship  of  the  Monthly  Meeting's  Committee, 
where  no  objection  on  this  ground,  or  indeed  any 
other,  was  made  at  the  time  of  its  appointment,  nor 
afterwards,  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  be- 
fore the  trial,  or  while  it  was  in  progress,  but  they 
brought  forward  all  their  charges  and  went  through 
with  their  evidence,  and  it  was  only  after  the  report 
was  made,  and  found  to  be  in  favor  of  John  Wilbur 
that  this  singular  objection  was  urged. 

And  but  for  the  unjust  act  of  our  former  clerk, 
endorsed  by  this  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  in 
withholding  from  us  our  Records,  we  should  have 
been  able  to  make  it  appear  thereby,  that  in  cases 
of  dealing,  much  nearer  relatives  to  the  party  have 
often  been  appointed  to  treat  with  him,  a  usage 
which  we  not  only  claim  as  having  been  long  prac- 
ticed in  this  meeting,  but  also  in  others. 

But  it  seems  proper  under  this  head  to  state,  in- 
asmuch as  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  have 
charged  us  with  deviation  from  our  former  prac- 
tice, that  in  addition  to  their  advising  and  endorsing 
our  former  clerk's  breach  of  trust,  they  had  at  the 
time  gone  so  far  themselves,  as  to  have  sent,  a  few 
days  previous  to  making  this  grave  charge,  and 
taken  away  our  books  of  records,  papers,  &c.,  and 


163 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


conveyed  them  to  some  place  not  within  our  bor- 
ders, and  unknown  to  us  !  and  then,  after  this  tres- 
pass upon  our  rights  of  property,  they  challenge 
our  late  practice  as  not  being  in  accordance  with 
»  our  former,  whilst  they  themselves  are  thus  surrep- 
titiously  withholding  from  us  the  only  legal  evi- 
dence whereby  our  former  practice  can  be  proved, 
and  by  which  most  easily  done,  but  for  this  their 
conduct,  so  foreign  from  the  Christian  rule  and  pre- 
cept. 

And  we  may  further  say,  that  one  of  this  very 
committee  appointed  by  Rhode  Island  Quarterly 
Meeting,  to  advise  and  assist  in  the  disposition  of 
the  case  of  John  Wilbur,  is  more  nearly  allied  to 
him  by  blood  than  either  of  those  in  his  o  wn  Month- 
ly Meeting's  Committee  ;  and  shall  we,  for  that  rea- 
son, charge  the  Quarterly  Meeting  as  they  have 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  "  that  they  have 
acted  with  a  view  to  prevent  an  impartial  exercise 
of  our  Christian  discipline  ?"  \ithey  have  cause  for 
such  charge,  therefore,  on  the  ground  of  relation- 
ship, we  more. 

The  circumstance  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  did  not  attend  our  Monthly  Meeting  in 
the  5th  month,  and  consequently  their  knowledge  of 
its  proceedings  was  only  through  the  reports  abroad, 
and  those  reports,  as  it  would  seem,  by  their  effects 
on  the  minds  of  the  committee,  must  have  been  of 
a  very  deceptive  and  partial  character,  and  hence 
forming  premises  insufficient  and  unsafe  whereon 
to  predicate  a  complaint,  and  to  form  a  judgment 
without  hearing  both  sides  of  the  case,  in  matters  of 
so  serious  a  nature  as  contained  in  their  document, 
now  under  consideration.  And  it  is  a  circumstance 
greatly  to  be  regretted  and  lamented,  that  a  com- 
mittee from  a  Quarterly  Meeting  of  Friends,  entrust- 
ed with  affairs  of  great  moment  to  the  peace  and 
well  being  of  Society,  should  have  been  so  credulous 
and  unguarded,  as  well  as  so  adventurous  as  thus 


APPEAL. 


163 


to  have  condemned  a  Monthly  Meeting  upon  vague 
report,  and  without  a,,  hearing !  and  upon  such 
ground  to  attempt  to  break  up  its  doings  for  near 
half  a  year  back,  is  a  matter  of  no  small  surprise  to 
us.  Hence  we  are  persuaded  that  all  impartial 
friends  must  see  that  the  advice  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee,  in  relation  to  the  transactions 
in  the  5th  month,  if  accepted  and  drawn  into  pre- 
cedent, would  tend  to  break  up  and  lay  waste  the 
order  of  Society,  and  lead  to  an  overthrow  of  the 
rights  which  our  Yearly  Meeting  has  conferred 
upon  our  subordinate  branches,  as  set  forth  in  our 
Discipline. 

Moiaeover,  any  attempt  by  a  Quarterly  Meeting, 
or  by  a  deputation  from  it  to  interfere  with  the  dis- 
ciplinary proceedings  of  a  Monthly  Meeting,  acting 
with  and  under  the  provisions  of  our  Discipline  ;  or 
to  arrest  it  in  its  usual  progress,  we  must  say  would 
be  an  abuse  of  the  superior  authority  of  a  Quarter- 
ly Meeting,  which  like  that  of  a  Monthly  Meeting, 
has  but  a  derived  authority,  and  both  from  the  same 
source,  to  wit,  from  the  Yearly  Meeting.  And  the 
subordinate  is  as  equally  entitled  to  its  rights  as  the 
superior,  and,  moreover,  ought  to  stand  as  inde- 
pendent in  its  judgment  in  the  concerns  properly 
belonging  to  it,  as  the  superior,  being  the  only  body 
authorized  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  to  deal  with  and 
disown  offenders.  But  the  Quarterly  Meeting  (if 
applied  to  and  not  otherwise)  has  the  right  to  re- 
verse the  judgQient  of  a  Monthly  Meeting,  but  not 
to  coerce  a  Monthly  Meeting,  nor  to  arrest  its  pro- 
ceedings, nor  to  reverse  them  until  the  case  be 
brought  through  the  prescribed  channel.  And  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  is  subject  to  a  similar  reversal  of 
its  judgment  by  the  Yearly  Meeting,  (when  proper- 
ly applied  to  and  not  otherwise.) 

And  who  would  expect  the  Yearly  Meeting,  hav- 
ing been  informed  that  a  case  of  judicature  was 
pending  before  a  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  likely  to 


164 


MONTHLY  MBETING*S 


result  either  in  the  confirming  or  the  revoking  of  the 
disownment  of  an  individual  by  a  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, we  say,  who  would  expect  the  Yearly  Meeting 
to  interfere  with  the  case  until  it  be  brought  to  that 
body  in  the  manner  which  itself  has  ordained  and 
prescribed  ?  Surely  no  one.  Nor  has  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  in  the  nature  of  things,  any  right,  either  re- 
ligious or  moral,  to  act  contrary  to  its  own  laws 
and  regulations  ;  and  especially  where  it  affects  the 
rights  of  either  individuals  or  of  Monthly  or  Quar- 
terly Meetings.  No  more  has  a  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing any  right  at  all  to  infringe  upon  those  rights  of 
a  Monthly  Meeting,  which  the  Yearly  Meeting  has 
given  it  and  guaranteed  to  it.  But  the  Monthly 
Meeting  is  to  be  left  to  act  conscientiously  and  free- 
ly, so  long  as  it  remains  sound  in  our  doctrine,  and 
faithful  to  our  Discipline  ;  and  that  without  the  co- 
ercive interference  of  any  other  body.  But  if  a 
Monthly  Meeting  become  apostate  in  principle,  it  is 
then  consequently  unfit  to  exercise  the  concerns  of 
a  Monthly  Meeting,  and  if  it  act  contrary  to  the 
doctrines  and  Discipline  and  constitution  of  a  Month- 
ly Meeting,  then  the  course  to  be  taken  with  it  is 
obvious,  being  plainly  pointed  out  by  the  Disci- 
pline. 

And  by  the  tenor  of  our  Discipline  in  providing 
for  appeals  from  the  judgment  of  all  subordinate 
meetings,  it  would  appear  that  the  Yearly  Meeting 
supposed  it  altogether  possible,  that  each  of  those 
bodies  might  be  or  become  disqualified  in  relation 
to  either  principle  or  judgment.  And,  however 
capacitated  and  honestly  disposed  any  Monthly 
Meeting  may  be,  with  a  desire  to  act  sincerely  and 
correctly,  agreeably  to  the  mind  of  truth,  and  in 
conformity  with  the  Discipline,  yet  without  the 
rights  and  independency  which  it  gives  us,  our  meet- 
ings for  the  ordering  of  the  affairs  of  truth,  will  at 
best  be  but  merely  nugatory,  and  the  authority 
which  they  are  designed  by  our  excellent  system  of 


APPEAL. 


165 


Church  government,  to  extend  over  the  members 
thereof,  will  be  lost,  and  any  pretensions  to  such 
authority  will  be  in  vain. 

The  proceedings  which  have  been  resorted  to,  in 
order  to  coerce  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting 
to  a  conformity  with  the  views  of  others  in  author- 
ity, brings  to  mind  the  trial  of  William  Penn  and 
William  Mead,  before  the  Court  of  Oyer  and  Ter- 
miner, in  London  ;  the  judges  whereof  derived  their 
authority  from  the  highest  source  in  the  kingdom. 
These  judges  by  the  exercise  of  their  power,  or 
rather  the  abuse  of  it,  attempted  repeatedly  to 
coerce  the  jury  to  a  conformity  to  their  own  wills. 
But  William  Penn  clearly  set  forth  that  the  jurors 
in  their  department,  ought  to  be  as  independent  as 
those  in  any  other  department,  though  never  so 
high,  under  the  great  charter  of  England,  and  were 
to  act  according  to  the  testimony  adduced  and  their 
own  consciences.  And  who  will  venture  to  say 
that  the  jury  alluded  to,  went  beyond  their  right  of 
authority  in  giving  in  their  opinion,  though  contrary 
to  the  advices  and  menaces  of  the  higher  power, 
or  in  their  disobedience  to  its  commands  ?  If  a 
jury  must  do  just  as  the  court  shall  say,  then  what 
use  in  juries  ?  And  who  will  say  that  any  of  the 
requirements  of  men,  (let  them  assume  whatever 
authority  they  may,)  directed  to  a  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, or  to  an  individual,  if  that  requirement  is  un- 
authorized by  our  Discipline  and  usages,  and  con- 
trary to  a  sense  of  duty,  on  the  part  of  those  to 
whom  it  is  offered,  we  ask  who  will  say  that  a  diso- 
bedience to  it  is  reprehensible,  or  an  offence  against 
society  ? 

And  now  in  relation  to  the  concluding  portion  of 
the  document  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee 
under  review, — embracing  their  requirements  of 
us  : — We  believe  that  no  candid  and  impartial  man 
fieed  do  more  than  read  it,  to  be  convinced  of  the 


166 


MONTHLY  meeting's 


magnitude  and  danger  of  the  authority  there  claim- 
ed, and  attempted  to  be  exercised. 

The  requirement  of  the  immediate  removal  of 
the  clerk,  duly  appointed  by  the  meeting,  and  recog- 
nized as  our  rightful  clerk  by  the  Committees  of 
both  the  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meetings,  and  by 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  itself ; — and  the  selection  and 
naming  by  them,  of  a  successor,  without  allowing 
the  Monthly  Meeting  any  voice  in  the  matter,  strikes 
us  as  a  most  extraordinary  and  dangerous  assump- 
tion of  power.  And  no  less  surprising  is  their 
advice  to  annul  and  make  void  our  records. 

To  discharge  an  individual  from  under  dealing 
who  had  committed  a  high  offence  against  his 
Monthly  Meeting,  by  withholding  from  it  its  right- 
ful property, — it  is  true  with  the  advice  and  consent 
of  this  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  ; — but  no 
less  an  offence  and  breach  of  trust  for  that ; — and 
one  which  the  Monthly  Meeting  was  not  at  liberty 
to  pass  over,  while  it  was  in  the  exercise  of  its  just 
rights,  and  authority  granted  and  secured  to  it,  and 
enjoined  upon  it,  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  for  the  gov- 
ernment of  its  members. 

In  addition  to  this  is  the  direction  "  that  the  deci- 
sion in  the  8lh  month  last,  as  entered  on  our  minutes 
in  relation  to  John  Wilbur,  be  set  aside  and  be  made 
void  and  of  no  effect." 

The  disownment  of  this  Friend,  we  would  have 
the  committee  bear  in  mind,  was  the  great  object 
sought  to  be  attained  by  all  these  extraordinary 
movements, — the  great  end,  which  all  the  means  put 
in  requisition  from  the  beginning  were  aimed  at. 

It  was  because  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing could  not  be  brought  to  condemn  and  disown 
a  member,  whose  offence  consisted  in  his  faithful 
testimony  against  those  things  which  were  calcula- 
ted to  lay  waste  and  desolate,  the  only  true  bond  of 
Christian  union  among  us  ;  namely,  an  agreement, 


APPEAL 


167 


and  unity  in  those  doctrines  and  testimonies,  reviv- 
ed and  promulgated  by  our  worthy  predecessors, 
and  still  held  dear  by  all  true  Friends ; — we  say  it 
was  because  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  could 
not  be  induced  by  all  the  influences  which  had  been 
brought  to  bear  upon  it,  to  disown  this  Friend 
against  its  own  judgment,  that  that  Monthly  Meet- 
ing was  dissolved,  and  done  too  as  we  verily  believe, 
not  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  really  and  truly  as 
such,  but  by  a  few  leading  men  therein,  the  very 
same  who  had  in  an  unauthorized  and  improper 
manner,  taken  up  J.  W.  in  the  first  instance,  and  all 
along  pursued  their  object  with  a  zeal  worthy  of  a 
better  cause. 

In  the  introduction  of  this  case  to  our  Monthly 
Meeting,  it  was  called  upon  by  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  as  the  legitimate  body,  to  give  its  judg- 
ment upon  an  alleged  offence  of  one  of  its  mem- 
bers. Whereupon  a  large  committee  was  appointed 
by  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  in  the  order 
of  society,  and  much  time  was  allowed  by  them  for 
deliberation  previously  to  the  interview  with  the 
parties  ;  and  when  met,  a  patient  investigation  of 
the  case  was  had,  and  the  evidences  and  allegations 
in  relation  to  it  were  heard,  occupying  the  space  of 
four  days  ;  and  the  committee  reported  at  the  time 
alluded  to,  that  the  complaint  in  their  judgment,  was 
710^  sustained ;  with  which  report  the  meeting  being 
satisfied,  it  consequently  adopted  it,  a  very  large 
proportion  of  the  meeting  uniting  therein.  And, 
inasmuch  as  these  proceedmgs  were  not  precipitate, 
but  very  deliberate,  and  in  the  order  of  our  Disci- 
pline, we  see  no  reason  nor  right  we  have  to  reverse 
that  decision,  affecting  as  it  would  the  rights  of  an 
individual,  whose  case  had  been  once  decided  by 
the  proper  tribunal  and  he  acquitted.  (And  seeing 
that  the  committee  who  brought  the  complaint,  had 
previously  made  so  light  of  the  alleged  offence  as 
to  assure  him  that  they  were  disposed  to  require  but  a 


168 


MONTHLY  MEETING*3 


very  little  concession  from  him!)  we  think  it  truly- 
remarkable  that  such  unprecedented  advice  should 
have  been  given  ;  and  that  such  great  efforts  should 
be  made  for  the  expulsion  of  a  member  whose 
offence  appears  only  to  have  been  found  in  the  exer- 
cise of  a  concern  to  sustain  our  doctrines,  testimo- 
nies, and  Discipline. 

(The  record  giving  an  account  of  divers  inter- 
views which  the  Yearly  Meeting's  and  select  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committees  had  with  John  Wilbur, 
evinces  his  importunities  with  them  for  a  plain 
statement  in  WTiting,  of  the  ground  of  their  uneasi- 
ness with  him,  in  order  and  preparatory  to  a  deli- 
berate vindication  of  the  course  he  had  taken : — 
and  this  record  at  the  same  time  shows  their  refusal, 
as  well  as  the  shifts  and  evasions  to  which  they 
resorted,  to  prevent  him  from  having  an  opportunity 
for  a  fair  and  full  hearing  before  them ;  a  refusal 
which  they  continued,  until  they  brought  a  com- 
plaint against  him  to  his  own  Monthly  Meeting.) 
And  subsequently,  in  carrying  out  the  same  deter- 
mination not  to  hear  his  defence,  when  the  case  was 
investigated  by  the  committee  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
after  their  own  efforts  adducing  evidence,  and  after 
pleading  for  the  sustainment  ot"  their  charges,  refus- 
ed and  would  not,  and  did  not  stay  to  hear  J.  Wilbur's 
defence,  and  consequently  did  not  know,  and  do  not 
know  what  it  was.  And  these  remarks  are  adduced, 
not  so  much  in  this  place  to  show  their  ostensible 
abandonment  of  the  case,  by  withdrawing  them- 
selves, and  taking  the  complaint  and  all  J;h.e  papers 
with  them,  as  they  are  to  show  that  they  never  had, 
nor  ever  would  allow  themselves  an  official  hearing 
of  J.  Wilbur's  vindication  of  his  proceedings  and 
of  the  course  which  he  had  taken. 

Hence,  we  see  how  absurd  and  arbitrary  were 
the  proceedings  of  this  Committee  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  in  their  attempts  to  coerce  South  Kingston 


APPEAL. 


169 


Monthly  Meeting  in  the  8th  month  last,  to  refuse 
the  acceptance  ol"  the  report  of  its  own  committee, 
who  had  patiently  heard  and  examined  the  eviden- 
ces  brought  on  both  sides. 

Again,  it  becomes  us  to  say,  that  the  Quarterly 
Meetmg's  Committee  (who  also  attempted  at  the 
time  alluded  to,  to  press  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  to  a  rejection  of  the  report  aforesaid,)  were 
so  entirely  uninformed  of  the  merits  of  the  case,  as 
never  to  have  heard  J.  Wilbur's  vindication  and 
defence  from  the  charges  preferred  against  iiim  ! 

Therefore,  they,  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee, are  justly  chargeable  with  attempting  to 
compel  South  Kingston  Monthly  Electing  to  a  mea- 
sure in  the  decision  of  a  case,  which  themselves, 
had  not  the  legitimate  means  of  understanding  !  ! 
Furthermore  the  same  Committee  of  Rhode  Island 
Quarterly  Meeting,  labored  under  the  same  disqual- 
ification and  want  of  the  requisite  understanding  of 
the  case,  when  they  so  gravely  advised  South  King- 
ston Monthly  fleeting,  at  a  subsequent  sitting,  at 
once  to  cancel  and  annul  their  decision  therein  ! 

These  proceedings  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  must,  as  we  conceive,  be  considered, 
by  all  judicious  men,  regardful  of  the  welfare  of 
society,  to  be  in  no  small  degree,  rash  and  adven- 
turous ;  and  il  sustained,  of  dangerous  consequence, 
as  well  in  relation  to  the  establishment  of  so  hurt- 
ful a  precedent,  as  the  direct  and  serious  eiFecis  of 
a  violation  and  disregard  of  the  rights  of  a  ]Month- 
ly  Meeting  and  of  individuals,  directly  tending  and 
leading  as  an  example  to  the  trifling  with  Friend's 
records,  and  rendering  them  precarious  and  void 
at  the  pleasure  of  superior  bodies.  And  should  the 
authority  claimed  in  the  document  before  us,  be 
sustained  and  established  by  the  Yearly  Meeting,  it 
will  be  seen  that  not  only  the  right  of  membership, 
but  our  property  and  the  line  of  inheritance,  v>-ill 
be  jeoparded  and  made  to  lie  at  the  will  of  such,  as 

8 


170 


MONTHLY  MEETlNG^S 


may  in  the  lapse  of  things  clothe  themselves  with 
such  authority  as  is  assumed  by  this  Committee  ! 

Upon  a  review  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Quarter- 
ly Meeting  in  dissolving  our  Monthly  Meeting,  we 
submit  to  the  committee  the  following  remarks.* 

And  although  modesty  and  civility  combined, 
with  the  delerence  usually  paid  to  persons  of 
standing  and  influence,  would  suggest  a  forbear- 
ance of  expression,  yet  those  leading  essentials, 
Truth  and  Justice,  hold  a  superior  claim  that  can-^ 
not  be  denied,  in  the  judicial  department  especially, 
when  the  character  and  rights  of  individuals  are  in 
question,  when  the  rights  and  existence  of  delegat- 
ed bodies,  instituted  by  the  highest  authority  and 
for  indispensable  purposes,  are  in  great  jeopardy. 
Then  it  is  that  even  charity  itself  cannot  exclude 
the  rights  and  demands  of  these  arbiters,  the  um- 
pire of  Truth  and  Justice.  We  therefore  feel  bound 
to  say, 

1st.  That  the  principal  actors  in  this  Quarterly 
Meeting,  against  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting 
are  recognized  among  the  members  of  the  commit- 
tee which  first  complained  of  that  Monthly  Meeting 
to  the  Quarterly  Meeting;  thus  assuming  the  seat 
of  judgment  on  the  decision  of  a  complaint  first 
brought  by  themselves. 

2d.  That  those  friends  and  such  others  as  were 
determined  to  dissolve  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting,  were  e?:ceedingly  unwilling,  and  long  and 
strenuously  opposed  and  resisted  the  reading  of  the 
Discipline  and  Law  of  the  Society,  (in  such  cases 
provided)  in  the  hearing  of  the  Quarterly  Meetings 
as  ordained  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  as  a  llule  of  de- 
cision in  such  cases  as  was  then  before  the  meeting. 
,  3d.  That  when,  after  a  long  struggle,  the  propo- 


*  For  the  proceeciugs  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,,  here  remarked 
upos,  £ee  preceding  Narrative,  page  85.. 


APPEAL. 


171 


sal  for  reading  the  Discipline,  did  prevail,  no  one  of 
these  persons  attempted  in  any  way  whatever  to 
reconcile  this  proposed  measure  to  that  Discipline 
by  an  exposition  of  its  several  items,  nor  to  show 
the  adaptation  of  their  proceedings  to  it ;  but  only 
claimed  its  authority  in  the  gross,  for  which  omis- 
sion the  reasons  must  be  obvious. 

4th.  That  the  representatives  and  members  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  many  others 
on  their  behalf,  earnestly  solicited  an  appeal  to  the 
Discipline  on  the  subject  then  in  discussion,  and 
were  willmg  to  rest  their  whole  case  upon  its  pre- 
mises. 

5th.  That  one  of  the  representatives  from  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  did  in  this  Quarterly 
Meeting  challenge  the  authority  and  explain  that 
Discipline,  and  exemplified  the  bearing  of  its  seve- 
ral items,  showing  the  gradation  and  deliberation 
therein  clearly  premised  in  the  management  of  such 
cases  ;  and  that  such  usage  had  not  been  regarded 
in  the  travel  of  this  case. 

6th.  That  these  complainants  were  not  only  dis- 
posed themselves  to  decide  this  case  against  the 
Monthly  Meeting  without  a  hearing,  but  most  cruel- 
ly striving  to  deprive  and  debar  its  members  from 
being  heard  in  any  way,  even  as  suppliants  pleading 
for  their  rights,  and  peremptorily  forbidding  their 
^  representative  giving  an  account  even  of  some  of 
the  most  prominent  facts  and  circumstances  that 
had  transpired  in  the  Monthly  Meeting. 

Now  let  it  be  enquired, 

1st.  Who  were  they  that  plead  for  their  case  to 
be  first  investigated,  and  then  judged  by  the  Law 
of  the  Society  i 

2d.  Who  were  they  that  strenuously  resisted  the 
light,  by  refusing  to  hear  the  case  in  any  way,  and 
chose  to  judge  it  without  Law  or  Rule  of  Disci- 
pline ? 

3d.  What  penalty  would  the  law  of  the  land  in- 


172  MONTHLY  meeting's  APPEAL. 


flict  upon  that  tribunal,  which  should  have  judged 
and  condemned  a  man  for  a  crime,  and  shall  have 
executed  that  judgment  upon  him,  without  allowing 
him  any  hearing  upon  his  indictment  ? 

As  directed,  several  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  attended  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing in  the  11th  month,  and  after  the  meeting  was 
opened  as  usual,  they  declared  the  object  of  their 
mission,  and  then  read  the  doings  of  the  Quarterly 
Meeting,  comprehending  its  decree  as  heretofore 
noticed,  and  then  called  on  the  members  quietly  to 
separate.  But  friends  of  this  Monthly  Meeting  hav- 
ing from  the  first  acted  sincerely  in  pursuing  what 
they  beheved  to  be  the  mind  of  Truth  and  the  order 
of  Society ;  and  clearly  seeing,  as  they  thought, 
that  the  Quarterly  Meeting  had  violated  the  plain 
provisions  which  were  made  for  Monthly  Meetings 
in  such  cases,  concluded  to  appeal  to  the  Yearly 
Meeting  for  a  redress  of  their  grievances,  and  in- 
formed the  committee  that  they  were  minded  to  re- 
main together  a  sufficient  length  of  time  to  make 
suitable  arrangements  for  that  purpose.  And  as  it 
was  the  doings  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  which 
they  had  just  read  to  us,  that  we  only  had  to  appeal 
from,  they  were  requested  to  furnish  us  with  a  copy 
thereof,  but  they  refused  to  do  so  ! 

Nevertheless,  an  appeal  was  drawn  up  in  a  sum- 
mary way,  and  we,  the  undersigned,  were  appoint- 
ed to  represent  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting, 
and  to  act  on  its  behalf  in  the  prosecution  of  it.  And 
subsequently  we  applied  to  the  clerk  of  Rhode 
Island  Quarterly  Meeting  for  a  copy  of  the  minutes 
dissolving  our  Monthly  Meeting,  but  were  refused 
by  a  reference  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  itself; 
therefore,  verbal  application  was  made  to  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting  in  the  second  month  last,  for  the  ne- 
cessary copies,  but  which  copies  that  meeting  re- 
fused to  grant. 

Again,  as  an  access  to  the  records  was  very  es- 


DISCIPLINE. 


173 


sential  to  us  in  preparing  our  case,  and  such  was 
also  our  right  by  DiscipUne,  and  in  order  that  no  in- 
formality should  be  alleged  as  an  excuse,  the  commit- 
tee at  large  made  a  written  application  to  both  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  and  the  Select  Quarterly  Meeting, 
for  the  liberty  of  access  to  the  records  of  both  meet- 
ings, but  were  refused  by  both ! — Were  refused  such 
rights  as  the  law  of  the  land  has  guaranteed  even  to 
criminals,  and  which  is  never  refused  them,  and 
such  too,  as  our  Yearly  Meeting  has  guaranteed  to 
all  its  members.  And  whilst  we  are  referring  to 
usages,  we  feel  it  our  duty  further  to  inform  the 
committee  that  on  divers  occasions  in  meetings  for 
business,  when  a  recurrence  to  discipline,  in  things 
relating  to  this  case,  has  been  asked  for,  the  reading 
has  been  waived  and  declined. 


Authorising  the  dissolution  of  Monthly  Meetings,  SfC, 


"  When  a  Quarterly  Meeting  hath  come  to  a  judg- 
ment respecting  any  difference,  relative  to  any 
Monthly  Meeting  belonging  to  them,  and  notified 
the  same  in  writing  to  such  Monthly  Meeting,  the 
said  Monthly  Meeting  ought  to  submit  to  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  ;  but  if  such  Monthly 
Meeting  shall  not  be  satisfied  therewith,  then  the 
Monthly  Meeting  may  appeal  to  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, against  the  judgment  and  determination  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting. 

"  And  if  a  Monthly  Meeting  shall  refuse  to  take 
the  advice  and  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting,  and  notwithstanding  will  not  appeal 
against  the  determination  of  the  said  meeting  to  the 
Yearly  Meeting  ;  in  such  case  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing shall  be  at  liberty  either  to  dissolve  such  Month- 
ly Meeting,  or  bring  the  affair  before  the  next  or 


DISCIPLINE, 


(From  Book  of  Discipline,  pages  118-119.) 


174 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


"  And  in  case  a  Quarterly  Meeting  shall  dissolve 
a  Monthly  Meeting,  the  dissolved  Monthly  Meeting 
or  any  part  thereof,  in  the  name  of  the  said  meeting, 
shall  be  at  Hberty  to  appeal  to  the  next  or  succeed- 
ing Yearly  Meeting,  against  such  dissolution  ;  but 
if  the  dissolved  Monthly  Meeting,  or  a  part  thereof 
in  its  behalf,  shall  not  appeal  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  " 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  shall  join  the  members  of  the 
said  late  Monthly  Meeting,  to  such  other  Monthly 
Meeting  as  they  may  think  most  convenient ;  and 
until  such  time,*  shall  take  care  that  no  inconveni- 
ence doth  thereby  ensue  to  the  members  of  such 
dissolved  meeting,  respecting  any  branch  of  our 
Discipline. 

"  And  if  any  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  to  which 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  shall  join  the  whole  or  a  part 
of  the  late  Monthly  Meeting,  do  think  themselves 
aggrieved,  they  shall  be  at  liberty  to  appeal  against 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and 
until  such  appeal  is  heard  and  determined,  the 
friends  added  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting  to  them, 
shall  be  deemed  their  members."  1743. 

DISCIPLINE   ON  THIS  CASE  CONSIDERED. 

When  a  Quarterly  Meeting  hath  come  to  a  judg- 
ment respecting  any  difference  relative  to  any  Month- 
ly Meeting  belonging  to  them — 

Now,  whether  this  difference  relates  to  a  misun- 
derstanding among  the  members  of  a  Monthly 
Meeting,  or  whether  it  relate  to  a  dispute  with  ano- 
ther Monthly  Meeting,  in  relation  to  the  settlement 
of  those  w^ho  are  needy ;  or  wiiether  it  relate  to 
rights  of  membership,  or  whatever — this  discipline 


*  This  portion  of  Discipline  was  transcribed  from  tliat  of  Lon- 
don Yearly  Meeting,  and  adopted  here.    In  the  original  the  words 
'until  such  junction"  were  used  instead  of  "  until  such  time." 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


175 


does  not  define,  neither  does  it  matter  vrhat  it  is.  if 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  has  come  to  a  judgment : 
it  is  the  Quarterly  Meeting  that  must  first  come  to 
a  judgment :  and  whether  that  judgment  is  ground- 
ed upon  the  report  of  a  committee,  made  in  open 
session,  or  whether  the  parties  had  been  fully  heard 
in  the  Quarterly  Meeting  itself,  it  matters  net,  pro- 
vided the  Quarterly  Meetmg  itself  "  had  come  to 
a  judgment which  point  arrived  at,  the  rule  goes 
on  and  says — and  notified  the  same  in  writing  to 
such  Monthly  Meeting, 

Question. — Who  is  to  notify  the  Monthly  Meet- 
ing  in  writing  ? 

Ansvv^er. — The  Quarterly  Meeting. 

Question. — But  where  and  hov\^  is  that  writing  to 
be  agreed  upon  and  executed  ? 

Answer. — In  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  signed 
by  the  clerk :  and  any  paper  whatever,  which  is 
,not  there  openly  agreed  upon,  and  so  signed,  cannot 
be  accredited  any  where  as  the  judgment  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting :  a  position  which  no  person 
will  gainsay, 

Weil,  when  such  writing  arrives,  the  rule  says  or 
continues  to  say.  The  said  M onthly  Meeting  ought 
to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Mieting. 

Here  the  order,  or  relative  standing  of  the  two 
bodies  is  alluded  to  ; — the  (quarterly  Meeting  the 
superior,  and  the  Monthly  Meeting  the  inferior. 
But  what  follows  shows  that  the  judgment  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  is  not  imperious  and  final  upon 
the  Monthly  Meeting,  for  it  further  says,  But  if  such 
Monthly  Meeting  shall  not  he  satisfied  therewith, 
then  tJie  Monthly  Meeting  may  appeal  to  the  Yearlij 
Meeting,  against  the  judgment  and  determination  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting. 

Here  we  find  no  requisition  laid  upon  the  Month- 
ly Meeting  to  decide  iinmediatcly  upon  that  docu- 
ment, (or  at  the  same  sitting,)  whether  it  will  abide 
the  decision  or  not ;  consequently,  this  discipline, 


176 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


good  reason,  and  Christian  usage,  all  agree  in  allow- 
ing time  for  due  deliberation,  inasmuch  as  questions 
of  great  importance  may  demand  and  require  it. 

And  when,  on  due  consideration,  such  Monthly 
Meeting  feels  itself  dissatisfied,  then  it  has  the  right, 
by  the  above,  to  appeal  to  a  body  of  higher  authori- 
ty than  the  Quarterly  Meeting — to  the  ultimate  um- 
pire of  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

Now,  in  the  above  recited  provision,  as  compre- 
hended in  the  first  paragraph,  we  see  that  there  is 
not  the  least  mention  made  of  laying  down  the 
Monthly  Meeting. 

But  the  next  paragraph,  in  an  extension  of  the 
subject,  provides  as  follows  : 

And  if  a  Monthly  Meeting  shall  refuse  to  take  the  ad- 
vice, and  siibmit  to  the  judgement  of  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ingi  and  notwithstanding  will  not  appeal  against  the  de- 
termination of  the  said  meeting  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  ; 
in  such  case  the  Quarterly  Meeting  shall  be  at  liberty  either 
to  dissolve  such  Monthly  Meetings  or  to  bring  the  affair  be- 
fore the  next  or  succeeding  Yearly  Meeting.* 

Here  in  this  second  paragraph  it  is  provided  and 
decided  beyond  all  disputation,  that  a  Quarterly 
Meeting  shall  have  no  authority  to  lay  down  a 
Monthly  Meeting,  until  the  Quarterly  Meeting^s 
advice  is  resisted  by  a  two-fold  refusal — first,  if 
the  Monthly  Meeting  refuse  to  accept  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  advice,  or  to  abide  its  judgment ; 
and  secondly,  if  it  refuse  to  appeal  therefrom,  then 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  may  lay  it  down,  or  consult 
the  Yearly  Meeting  in  the  case  :  evidently  making 
it  a  serious  matter  to  take  from  a  Monthly  Meeting 
its  charter,  as  evinced  by  this  whole  paragraph, 
and  more  especially  by  the  last  sentence  of  it.  And 
no  mention  is  yet  made,  nor  liberty  given  for  the 
annexation  of  the  members  to  another  Monthly 


In  which  eee  how  much  time  is  ellowed. 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


177 


Meeting,  nor  subsequently  until  the  members  thereof 
have  time  more  fully  to  consider  the  case,  and  have 
opportunity  the  second  time  for  appealing  now 
against  the  dissolution  of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  as 
set  forth  in  the  first  part  of  the  third  paragraph, 
which  is  as  follows  : 

And  in  case  a  Quarterly  JMeeting  shall  dissolve  a  JSIonth- 
ly  Meeting,  the  disso/ved  Monthly  Meeting,  or  any  part 
thereof,  m  the  name  of  said  Monthly  Meeting,  shall  be  at 
liberty  to  appeal  to  the  next  or  succeeding  Yearly  Meeting 
against  such  dissolution* 

And  here  no  construction  is  wanting  to  make  it 
plainly  appear  that  this  second  provision  and  liber- 
ty for  appealing,  is  against  the  dissolution^  not 
against  the  annexation ;  for  no  annexation  is  as  yet 
provided  for,  unless  such  second  opportunity  of  ap- 
pealing is  refused  or  neglected,  as  set  forth  in  the 
latter  part  of  this  third  paragraph,  to  wit. 

But  if  the  dissolved  Monthly  Meeting,  or  part  thereof, 
in  i*s  behalf,  shall  not  appeal  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  shall  join  the  members  of  said  late 
Monthly  Meeting  to  such  other  Monthly  Meeting  as  they 
may  think  most  convenient  ;  a?id  until  such  time,  (the  time 
of  annexation)  shall  take  care  that  no  inconvenience  doth 
thereby  ensue  to  the  members  of  such  dissolved  Monthly 
Meeting  respecting  any  branch  of  our  discipline. 

Here,  again,  in  this  last  part  of  the  3d  paragraph 
is  further  and  incontrovertible  evidence,  that  the 
enactors  of  this  law  of  Society,  designed  that  the 
annexation  should  be  subsequent,  and  to  follow,  and 
only  to  follow,  the  refusal  or  neglect  of  appealing 
against  the  act  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  in  dissolv- 
ing the  Monthly  Meeting. 

And  the  latter  clause,  "  until  such  time,  shall 
take  care,"  &c.,  if  it  has  any  meaning  at  all,  it 
means  that  there  will  have  been  a  space  of  time 
between  the  dissolution  of  the  Monthly  Meeting 


*  Hera  again,  see  how  much  time  is  allowed 
8* 


178 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


and  the  annexation  of  its  members  to  another,  as 
indeed  does  the  whole  section  on  this  subject,  clear- 
ly demonstrate  by  the  gradations  therein  premised, 
that  it  was  the  design  of  the  framers  of  that  disci- 
pline,* that  in  so  serious  a  matter  as  the  dismem- 
bering of  a  Monthly  Meeting,  (like  that  of  dismem- 
bering the  human  body,)  that  great  deliberation, 
caution,  and  care  should  be  observed,  lest  a  rash 
procedure  should  be  cause  of  sorrow.  Finally,  we 
see  that  in  considering  this  discipline  that  there  are 
prominent  and  governing  features  which  stand  forth 
in  full  view,  to  wit : 

First, — The  Quarterly  Meeting  must  be  informed 
that  a  difference  exists  in  a  Monthly  Meeting,  and 
secondly,  the  Quarterly  Meeting  must  in  some  way 
become  ascertained  of  the  true  merits  of  that  differ- 
ence, and  by  means  of  that  knowledge  come  to  a 
judgment  in  relation  to  it ;  and  when  the  Quarterl};- 
Meeting  has  thus  come  to  a  judgment,  then  the 
course  to  be  pursued  is  to  send  that  decision,  (rela- 
tive to  the  proper  disposition  and  settlement  of  the 
case,)  in  writing,  signed  by  the  clerk,  and  directed 
to  that  Monthly  Meeting.  And  if  that  Monthly 
Meeting  is  not  satisfied  therewith,  it  has  the  right 
allowed  it,  after  mature  consideration,  to  appeal 
from  that  judgment  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  in  re- 
lation to  the  existing  difficulty,  to  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing. But  when  the  Quarterly  Meeting  has  had  time 
to  ascertain,  and  has  ascertained,  which  cannot,  of 
course,  be  less  than  three  months  after  the  issuing  of 
its  judgment;  and  peradventure  it  may  be  six 
months,  (the  time  which  discipline  provides  for  the 
limit  of  appeals)  before  the  Quarterly  Meeting  can 
be  informed.  And  if  such  Monthly  Meeting  de- 
cline the  acceptance  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
judgment,  and  also  decline  appealing,  then  the 


*  First  agreed  on  in  London  Yearly  Meeting,  in  earlier  times. 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


179 


Quarterly  Meeting  is  authorized,  after  due  consid- 
eration, either  to  dissolve  the  Monthly  Meeting  or 
to  apply  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  for  advice.  But 
if  it  decide  to  dissolve  it,  then,  of  course,  that  de- 
cision goes  to  the  Monthly  Meeting,  in  writing, 
again  as  before,  signed  by  the  clerk;  and  then 
again  the  prescribed  time  for  appeals  is  to  be  allow- 
ed for  the  Monthly  Meeting  to  come  to  a  conclu- 
sion whether  it  will  abide  that  decision,  and  to  get 
the  result  of  their  deliberations  to  the  Quarterly 
fleeting  :  and  if  not  to  appeal,  then  it  is,  and  not 
till  then,  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting  is  authorized 
by  our  discipline  to  annex  its  members  to  another 
Monthly  Meeting.  And  then  also  it  is,  when  a 
Monthly  Meeting  has  twice  refused  the  decision  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  twice  dec!-ned  to  a.p- 
peal,  and  not  until  then,  if  the  Monthly  Meetmg  re- 
main dissatisfied,  that  our  discipline  ordains  that 
the  members  of  that  Monthly  Meeting  shall  become 
members  of  such  other  Monthly  Meeting,  as  the 
Quarterly  Meeting  may  direct,  and  from  which  af- 
terward there  is  no  appeal,  cn  the  part  of  the  dis- 
solved Monthly  Meeting. 

And  here  we  would  call  the  attention  of  the 
committee  to  another  very  important  consideration, 
viz.,  that  the  Monthly  Meeting  was  not  laid  dov/n 
on  account  of  any  disorderly  proceedings  therein  as 
was  professed  to  be  the  case;  but  that  these  extra- 
ordinary and  hip^h  handed  measux'es  of  the  Quarter- 
ly Meeting  leading  to  and  resulting  in  its  formal  dis- 
solution were  evidently  elicited  by  the  Quarterly 
Meeting's  Committee,  for  the  reason  that  said 
Monthly  Meeting,  as  was  feared,  would  find  no 
cause  of  disownment  against  one  of  its  members 
whom  they,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  wish- 
ed, and  were  apparently  determined  should  be 
disowned :  a  desire  and  determination  evinced  by 
the  precipitation  and  recklessness  with  which  they 
hurried  forward  towards  the  consummation  of  this 


180       WHY  TH^  M.  MEETING  WAS  PISSOLVED. 

darling  purpose,  prostrating  every  obstacle  which 
interposed  ;  even  the  discipline  itself:  and  still  fur- 
ther evinced  by  the  reports  of  extermination  which 
•went  abroad,  viz.,  that  if  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  refused  to  disown  that  member,  it  must  he 
put  doivn,  and  it  icould  he  j)ut  down  ;  and  this  re- 
ported, and  apparent  determination  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  was  openly  and  widely  spread, 
even  beyond  the  limits  of  New  England  Yearly 
Meeting. 

That  they  would  proceed  to  this  extremity  of 
destroying  a  Monthly  Meeting,  not  the  least  among 
the  tribes,  nor  yet  the  least  in  weight  of  character 
or  concern  for  the  right  management  of  the  affairs 
of  a  Monthly  Meeting.  And  all  this  for  the  sake  of 
exterminating  from  the  Society  one  individual !  for 
the  sake  of  driving  from  the  church  an  approved 
minister  of  the  Society,  whose  guide  in  the  pro- 
ceedings complained  of,  were  the  impressions  oF 
apprehended  religious  duty,  and  the  requirement^Qf 
our  discipline.  And  when,  too,  this  committee,  in 
a  collective  capacity,  had  given  him  the  assurance 
that  "  they  would  be  satisfied  with  a  very  little 
concession,"  and  during  their  urgent  entreaties  for 
this  kind  of  satisfaction,  no  mention  was  made  of 
sincerity.  And  subsequently  the  committee  sent  to 
him  a  deputation  of  four  of  their  number,  proposing 
that  he  should  say,  "  If  I  have  done  wrong,  I  am 
sorry  for  it,"  and  thus  voluntarily  reducing  their 
uneasiness  and  claim  for  concession  to  a  "  very  lit- 
tle thing" — nay,  to  what  we  consider  nothing  at 
all :  and  to  which  form  he  might  safely  have  sub- 
scribed, but  for  the  version  which  he  suspected  they 
would  give  it,  and  send  abroad.  And  no  complaint 
was  made  to  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  of 
any  thing  as  having  transpired  since  those  inter- 
views with  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committe,  above 
alluded  to.  And  the  aid  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
was  evidently  invoked  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 


RECAPITULATION. 


181 


the  object  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  to 
wit :  the  disownment  of  this  Friend  ;  which  object 
could  not  be  consummated  without  the  instrumen- 
tality of  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  in  either  compel- 
ling the  Monthly  Meeting  to  a  nullification  of  its 
records,  or  a  reversal  of  its  proceedings  in  regard 
to  that  individual ;  or  on  failure  of  that,  to  dissolve 
the  Monthly  Meeting  ;  and  to  place  that  member 
within  the  reach  of  their  power,  in  another  Month- 
ly Meeting,  which  might  be  expected  to  be  more 
obedient  to  their  mandate.  And  when  there  placed, 
the  object  of  his  disownment,  so  desirable  to 
them,  was  effected,  by  the  personal  presence, 
dictation  and  control  of  at  least  seven  of  that  com- 
mittee, who  were  the  complainants  against  the  indi- 
vidual, and  against  the  Monthly  Meeting,  and  one 
of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  :  and  barely 
two  members  of  that  Monthly  Meeting,  who  were 
not  included  in  those  appointments,  that  agreed  to 
J.  Wilbur's  disownment :  and  of  these  two,  one  was 
a  son  and  the  other  a  brother  of  the  two  most  ac- 
tive members  of  the  Yearly  ^Meeting's  Committee, 
who  brought  the  complaint  against  our  member. 
And  the  great  unreasonableness  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  is  further  apparent  in  thus 
acting,  and  thus  judging  and  thus  carrying  over  the 
heads  of  the  great  body  of  that  IMonthly  Meeting, 
the  denial  of  an  honest  Friend,  upon  the  report  of  a 
small  fraction  of  a  committee  consisting  of  only  two 
out  of  nine. 

RECAPITULATION. 

In  order  for  a  summary  and  more  concise  view 
of  the  cardinal  and  most  essential  features  in  this 
important  case,  we  have  again  brought  them  to 
view  as  follows  : — 

1st.  We  have  shown  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee,  by  threatenings  and  other  means,  coerc- 


182 


RECAPITULATION. 


ed  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  into  measures 
prematurely,  and  aside  from  the  usages  of  our 
Discipline. 

2d.  That  the  same  committee  interfered  with  the 
local  and  private  concerns  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  attempted  to  interrupt  the 
free  action  of  that  meeting  in  the  appointment  of 
its  officers. 

3d.  We  have  shov^n  that  the  same  committee 
attempted,  by  menaces  to  coerce  tlie  committee  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  to  a  compliance 
with  their  own  unreasonable  requirements  ;  and 
that  they  refused  to  testify  as  witnesses,  in  which 
capacity  they  had  offered  themselves  :  and  finally, 
left  in  the  middle  of  the  examination  in  a  disorderly 
manner. 

4th.  Again  v/e  have  shown,  that  instead  of  labor- 
ing to  promote  unity  and  harmony  agreeably  to 
their  instructions,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
did  actually  give  their  strength  and  support  to  two 
or  three  restless  persons,  who  attempted  at  once  to 
produce  a  schism  in  our  Monthly  Meeting. 

5th.  We  have  shown  that  this  same  committee, 
not  long  after  this  palpable  disorder  of  their  own, 
complamed  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  to 
the  Quarterly  Meeting  for  disorder! 

6th.  We  have  shown  the  disorderly  proceedings 
of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  in  attempting 
to  break  up  our  Monthly  Meeting,  whilst  the  report 
in  that  well  known  case  was  in  the  women's  meeting 
for  adjudication,  and  other  business  unfinished. 

7th.  We  have  shown  that  the  Committee  of 
Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  on  their  first 
attendance,  assumed  the  authority  of  cancelling  our 
records  at  pleasure,  and  of  setting  in  judgment  upon 
a  case  which  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  had 
submitted  to  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  to 
decide  ;  and  we  have  also  shown  that  this  commit- 
tee assumed  the  authority  and  right  of  dictation, 


RECAPITULATION. 


183 


(beyond  the  bounds  of  their  appointment  or  of  the 
Quarterly  Meeting's  authority,)  to  South  Kingston 
Meeting  of  ministers  and  elders,  by  an  exercise 
of  such  assumption,  so  far  as  to  attempt  a  division 
or  separation  of  that  meeting,  by  gravely  and  ear- 
nestly advising  one-half  of  its  members,  "Not  to 
attend  that  meeting." 

8th.  We  have  shown  that  both  the  Yearly  and 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  have  wronged  us, 
in  advising  our  former  Clerk  to  withhold  from  us 
our  property  contained  in  our  books  and  papers ; 
and  the  latter  still  more  flagrantly  in  coming  them- 
selves and  taking  them  aw?y  out  of  our  limits. 

9th.  We  have  shown  by  their  own  document  that 
the  same  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  proffered 
to  us  their  advise,  requiring  the  nullification  of  divers 
portions  of  our  records  for  nearly  half  a  year  then 
passed  over — to  release  an  offender  from  dealing, 
incured  by  the  withholding  from  us  our  property, — 
and  that  they  also  declined  to  allow  us  reasonable 
time  for  our  consideration  of  these  advices,  as  their 
report  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  a  few  days  after 
clearly  showeth. 

10th.  We  have  shown,  that  not  only  their  Com- 
mittee as  above,  but  the  Quarterly  Meeting  itself, 
has  condemned  and  deprived  us  of  our  rights,  pre- 
maturely and  unjustly,  as  well  as  contrary  to  our 
discipline  ;  and  without  the  opportunity  of  a  hear- 
ing and  circumstantial  representation  of  our  case. 
We  have  also  shown  its  long  resistance  to  the  read- 
ing of  our  discipline  in  relation  to  laying  down 
Monthly  Meetings  :  and  when  read,  declining  any 
exposition  of  it,  or  to  compare  their  proceedings 
with  it.  But  we  have  shown  you  as  above,  the 
plain  and  clear  exposition  of  that  discipline,  (easily 
understood  by  the  most  ordinary  reader,)  and  how 
palpably  discordant  therewith  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's proceedings  have  been 

11th.  W«  have  shown  the  invalidity  of  the  objec- 


184 


RECAPITULATION. 


tions  to  our  proceedings,  and  the  absurdity  of  the 
advice  contained  in  the  written  document,  presented 
to  us  by  the  Committee  of  that  Quarterly  Meeting 
in  the  10th  month. 

12th.  We  have  shown  that  the  Monthly  Meeting 
was  not  laid  down  as  was  pretended  on  account  of 
disorder,  (fee,  but  because  it  did  not,  and  could  noT 
be  induced  to  disown  one  of  its  members,  whose 
only  offence,  on  a  careful  and  dehberate  investiga- 
tion of  the  case,  appeared  to  consist  in  his  having^ 
faithfully,  and  in  compliance  with  the  requirements 
of  discipline,  borne  testimony  against  the  promul- 
gation of  unsound  and  defective  doctrines  in  the 
Society.  And,  that  after  the  Monthly  Meeting  was 
thus  illegally  dissolved,  and  just  enough  of  its  re- 
corded proceedings  nuUified,  to  place  this,  our 
friend,  again  within  their  power  in  another  Monthjy 
Meeting,  he  was  there  disowned  by  those  very  men 
who  first  brought  the  complaint  against  him,  and 
that  on  the  report  of  but  two  out  of  nine  of  a  com- 
mittee who  had  investigated  the  case. 

13th.  And  furthermore,  we  have  shown  that  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  complained  of  South 
Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  upon  a  charge  of  in- 
subordination, when  as  yet,  it  had  not  decided,  nor 
given  judgment  upon  the  complaint  which  they  had 
brought ;  it  being  yet  in  the  hands  of  the  commit- 
tee unreported.  And  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee  appointed  upon  this  representation, 
reported  in  favor  of  the  summary  dissolution  of  the 
Monthly  Meeting,  and  its  annexation  to  another, 
while  as  yet,  it  had  not  been  allowed  time  to  con- 
sider and  investigate,  but  had  referred  only  one 
month  for  consideration,  their  written  advice.  And 
that  the  Quarterly  Meeting  did  adopt  their  report, 
and  at  once  consummated  the  dissolution  and  annex- 
ation therein  recommended. 

Hence  we  say,  and  in  saying,  are  not  afraid  of 


RECAPITULATION. 


185 


being  contradicted,  that  the  course  of  proceedings 
which  have  been  taken,  and  pursued  by  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  and  by  tlie  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing s  Committee,  and  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
itself,  have  not  been  in  conformity  with  our  disci- 
pline, but  plainly  an  infraction  upon  it,  and  upon  its 
order  and  usages ;  and  w^e  do  therefore  ask,  and 
"expect  redress  at  the  hands  and  by  the  decision  of 
that  body,  which  made  and  ordained  that  discipline, 
and  enjoined  its  observance  upon  all  its  subordinate 
branches  ;  and  in  conformity  to  which,  as  its  own 
rule  of  action,  the  Yearly  Meeting  can  only  be  the 
umpire  for  the  termination  of  all  controversies  in 
the  Society.  And  we  apprehend  there  can  be  no 
sensible,  candid  mind,  possessed  of  the  knowledge 
of  this  case,  and  of  the  usages  of  our  discipline, 
but  must  admit  that  there  are  in  the  foregoing,  innu- 
merated  diverse  measures  resorted  to  by  the  com- 
mittees, and  by  the  Quarterly  Meeting,  any  one  of 
which  would  be  sufficient  to  reverse  the  proceed- 
ings of  these  bodies  in  this  unhappy  case  ;  and  we 
are  therefore  assured,  that  the  Yearly  IMeeting  can- 
not confirm  the  judgment  of  Rhode  Island  Quarter- 
ly Meeting  against  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, and  yet  maintain  its  reputation  as  the  righteous 
supporter  and  faithful  upholder  of  the  truth,  and  its 
own  rules  and  regulations. 

Othxiel  Foster, 

John  Wilbur, 

John  Foster, 

Charles  Perry, 

Isaac  Collins, 

John  Foster,  of  Hopkinton, 

Ethan  Foster, 

Samuel  Sheffield, 

Elisha  Kenyon. 
Newport,  Qth  Mo,  ISth,  1843. 


186 


APPEAL. 


JOHN  WILBUR'S  APPEAL, 

Against  the  proceedings  of  Greenwich  Monthly 
Meetings  in  their  assumption  of  disowning  hi??i ;  as 
aho  against  the  proceedings  of  Rhode  Island  Quar- 
,  terly  Meeting,  in  confirming  the  doings  of  Green- 
wich Monthly  Meeting,  in  which  the  complaint  is  re- 
ferred to  and  answered ;  the  erroneous  proceedings 
of  said  Monthly  Meeting  refuted,  and  his  own  course 
vindicated.  Substantially  the  same  before  the  Year- 
ly Meeting^s  Committee  as  before  that  of  the  Quar- 
terly Meeting. 

His  first  exception  against  any  disciplinary  pro- 
ceedings over,  or  dealing  with  any  of  the  members 
of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  by  Greenwich 
Monthly  Meeting,  rests  in  their  want  of  jurisdiction 
over  those  members,  for  the  reason  that  Rhode 
Island  Quarterly  Meeting  did  not  proceed  in  manner 
and  form  prescribed  by  Discipline,  in  essaying  to 
lay  down  said  Monthly  Meeting,  that  there  was  no 
cause  for  laying  down  said  Monthly  Me'ethig;  but 
if  such  had  been  the  case,  their  manner  of  proceed- 
ings was  arbitrary  and  palpably  at  variance  with 
and  in  direct  violation  of  the  Discipline,  made  and 
provided  for  laying  down  Monthly  Meetings  when 
the  case  required  it,  as  wdl  most  plainly  appear 
by  a  recurrence  to  the  Appeal  of  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  to  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

But  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  professed,  by 
the  rules  of  subordination,  to  be  under  an  obliga- 
tion, (or  more  truly  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Commit- 
tee professed  it  for  them,)  to  disown  the  appellant ; 
alleging  that  the  Quarterly  Meeting  put  him  under 
dealing,  and  required  of  them  the  consummation 
thereof. 

Bat  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  was  olficially 
informed  that  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting, 


APPEAL. 


187 


and  its  members  on  its  behalf,  had  appealed  to  the 
Yearly  Meeting  against  the  proceedings  of  Rhode 
Island  Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  assumption  of  lay- 
ing it  down,  and  of  annexing  its  members  to  that 
of  Greenwich,  whereon  is  grounded  his 

2d  Exception. — That  appeals  from  lower  to 
higher  courts  or  tribunals  in  all  cases,  are  a  bar  to 
all  executive  proceedings  thereafter,  until  that  ap- 
peal is  decided  by  the  superior  authority.  A  sus- 
pension of  action  which  is  scrupulously  observed, 
and  was  never  violated,  (so  far  as  he  knows,)  in 
any  civil  or  religious  proceedings  heretofore. 

And  the  possibility,  or  even  the  probability  that 
the  judgment  of  the  superior  body  may  coincide 
with  that  of  the  inferior,  is  no  license  at  all  for  exe- 
cutive proceedings,  until  the  final  issue,  inasmuch  as 
such  overt  proceedings  may  lead  to  great  injustice, 
both  in  relation  to  civil  and  religious  rights,  and 
would  also  be  an  impeachment  upon  the  wise  and 
necessary  provisions  for  a  careful  review  of  cases, 
for  the  safety  of  the  community.  And  furthermore, 
such  irrational  and  rash  proceedings  bespeak  dis- 
loyalty, or  a  want  of  deference  to  the  supreme  body, 
(the  Yearly  Meeting,)  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other,  a  disregard  of  the  rights  of  individuals,  if  not 
a  betrayal  of  some  personal  grudge,  rather  than  a 
desire  to  do  by  him  as  they  would  that  others  should 
do  by  them  in  such  cases. 

Hence  we  see  not  only  the  justice  but  the  obliga- 
tion of  all  judiciary  bodies,  carefully  and  conscien- 
tiously to  observe  those  laws  provided  for  appeals, 
in  order  for  fuller  hearing,  and  staying  their  hands 
from  all  further  proceedings  after  an  appeal  is  made 
to  a  higher  tribunal,  agreeable  to  the  wholesome 
provisions  made  by  constituted  authority. 

If  a  law  can  be  disregarded  in  one  instance  with 
impunity,  it  can  be  disregarded  in  any  number  of 
instances  that  might  occur.     And  in  all  such  pro- 


188 


APPEAL. 


ceedings  the  merits  of  cases  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  course  to  be  taken. 

3rd  Exception. — After  a  case  of  an  alleged  of- 
fence has  been  duly  tried,  and  decided  in  one  Month- 
ly Meeting,  and  the  accused  acquitted,  can  that 
same  case  afterwards  be  tried  and  decided  in 
•another  Monthly  Meeting,  agreeable  to  any  disci- 
pline to  be  found  in  our  books  ?  Or,  can  a  prece- 
dent of  such  case,  or  such  usage  be  produced  as 
having  ever  transpired  in  the  Yearly  Meeting  since 
its  first  establishment  ?     The  appellant  thinks  not. 

4th  Exception. — That  a  Monthly  Meeting  cannot 
at  once  judge  of  a  case,  which  has  not  been  ex- 
amined by  itself  or  by  persons  of  its  own  appoint- 
ment. 

And  seeing  that  the  investigation  and  opinion  of 
deputed  persons,  is  the  lowest  evidence  upon  which 
a  Monthly  Meeting  can  safely  decide  a  case  of  per- 
sonal rights,  how  can  it  safely  decide  upon  the  opi- 
nion of  those  whom  it  never  deputed,  and  especial- 
ly upon  the  judgment  of  only  two  of  a  committee  of 
nine,  appointed,  not  by  itself,  but  by  another  Month- 
ly Meeting. 

5th  Exception. — The  complaint  was  never  read 
in  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  until  a  few  minutes 
before  that  meeting  was  called  upon  to  disown  the 
appellant.  And  what  a  claim  to  divining  must  a 
meeting  make,  to  determine,  under  such  circum- 
stances, that  the  report  of  two  out  of  a  committe  of 
nine  was  right,  and  the  seven  more  intelligent 
members  were  wrong,  seeing  that  not  one  then 
present  had  ever  heard  the  vindication  and  defence 
of  the  accused  individual,  except  those  two. 

Therefore  the  appellant  thinks  such  measures 
contrary  to  all  usage  and  discipline  in  the  Society 
of  Friends,  and  for  that  reason  considers  the  pro- 
ceedings of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  to  have 
been,  in  his  case,  disorderly,  precipitant  and  arbi- 
trary, if  indeed  it  was  in  the  abstract  an  act  of 


APPEAL. 


189 


Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  a  thing  very  doubtful 
if  not  unsupportable,  even  if  no  appeal,  as  above, 
had  been  pending  ;  and  because  the  question  of  dis- 
ownment  was  carried  by  the  voice  of  seven  of  the 
complainants,  there  collected  to  all  appearance  for 
the  purpose,  with  one  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's 
Committee,  and  only  two  others,  common  members 
of  the  Monthly  Meeting,  who  favored  the  motion, 
the  one  a  brother  and  the  other  a  son  of  two 
of  the  complainants ;  in  whom  could  but  be  seen 
the  greatest  anxiety  that  this  work  should  be  ac- 
complished, [and  by  whose  bidding,  and  by  whose 
assistance,  sitting  in  judgment,  it  was  effected.] 

Hence  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  who 
brought  this  complaint  against  the  appellant  with 
two  of  their  near  relatives  and  one  other,  who 
had  claimed  to  be  embodied  with  the  members 
of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  and  had  there 
acted  on  the  case,  were  exclusively  the  body  which 
disowned  him  from  the  Society,  though  in  the  name 
of  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting,  and  on  their  book 
the  assumption  was  recorded  by  the  willing  hand  of 
one  of  the  complainants  above  referred  to  ;  as  also 
was  recorded  the  report  of  the  two  of  South  Kings- 
ton Committee,  and  all  with  the  appearance  of 
solemnity,  as  though  it  had  been  the  act  of  Green- 
wich Monthly  Meeting,  although  divers  of  its  mem- 
bers objected  thereto.  And  which  report,  thus  re- 
corded on  the  book,  contained  an  assertion,  "  that 
John  Wilbur  refused  to  meet  with  the  committee 
on  the  occasion  when  desired."  But  the  true  state 
of  the  case  was,  they  never  requested  him  to  meet 
with  them,  nor  did  he  ever  refuse  to  do  so. 

6th  Exception. — In  justification  of  these  precipi- 
tant proceedings,  the  Monthly  Meeting  at  Green- 
wich, or  some  of  its  members,  professed  to  be  bound 
by  the  direction  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  to  take 
up  all  unfinished  business  which  they  found  with 
the  records  of  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting. 


190 


APPEAL. 


One  of  the  items  was  a  complaint  against  a  member 
for  marrying  out  of  the  Society.  Another  was  an 
account  of  a  widow  woman  for  a  debt  due  her  for 
keeping  the  poor,  just  presented,  and  which  remain- 
ed unpaid.  And  although  Greenwich  Monthly 
Meeting  was  twice  applied  to  for  payment,  they 
utterly  refused  to  acknowledge  the  claim  or  to  make 
payment !  The  former  was  not  taken  up  until  after 
the  appeal  was  decided,  and  the  latter  never  was 
paid  by  them,  they  taking  the  ground,  she  might  as 
well  apply  to  another  Monthly  Meeting  as  to  them, 
so  that  Friends  in  the  neighborhood  felt  themselves, 
by  the  obligations  of  humanity,  bound  to  remune- 
rate the  widow  woman. 

So  it  seems  that  Greenwich  Monthly  Meeting  felt 
so  independent  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  directions 
as  to  take  up  only  such  things  as  they  inclined  to 
do,  or  rather  such  things  as  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  inclined  they  should  do,  and  to  defer  and 
refuse  such  as  they  inclined  to  defer  and  refuse ; 
howbeit,  the  business  which  they  did  take  up  had 
been  finished  by  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting 
in  a  most  deliberate  manner. 

Consideration  of  the  complaint  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  to  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  against  John  Wilbur  :  brought  to  view  by 
quotations  and  replies. 

They  say,  "  John  Wilbur  has  departed  from  the 
good  order  of  our  society,  in  the  disrequard  of  our 
Christian  Discipline." 

This  general  and  leading  charge  does,  and  if  it 
had  been  correct,  might  properly  have  stood  fore- 
most in  a  complaint  to  be  tried  and  decided  by  the 
rules  and  provisions  of  the  discipline  of  New  Eng- 
land Yearly  iMeeting,  of  which  the  complainants  in 
this  case  arc  members,  and  to  which  discipline  they 
also  are  amenable  as  well  as  he,  as  are  all  others  in 


APPEAL. 


191 


whatever  capacity  tliey  stand  ;  whether  individual 
or  official  ;  whether  Quarterly  or  Monthly  Meet- 
ings ;  or  whether  committees  or  other  officers  ap- 
pointed by  Quarterly  or  Monthly  Meetings,  are  all 
equally  bound  to  adhere  unequivocally  to  the  usage 
and  authority  of  this  discipline; — yes,  even  the 
Yearly  Meeting  itself  is  bound  by  considerations 
and  consequences  still  more  sacred,  involving  re- 
sponsibilities of  a  much  higher  order  than  those 
which  rest  upon  single  individuals,  in  the  keeping 
inviolate  its  own  laws  and  testimonies,  and  itself 
faithfully  exemplifying,  as  well  as  ordering  justice 
and  judgment  to  others ;  for  if  the  Yearly  Meeting 
violate  its  own  law^s,  and  continue  to  do  so,  the  con- 
sequence must  be  a  state  of  anarchy  and  confusion, 
unless  there  be  more  virtue  in  the  members  than  in 
the  body. 

Nor  can  the  Yearly  Meeting  itself  invest  w^ith 
any  authority  whatever  any  special  body,  commit- 
tee, or  deputation,  with  power  to  act  or  to  proceed 
in  any  manner  at  all,  (as  has  been  vainly  assumed 
by  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,)  touching  the 
rights  and  privileges,  or  duties  of  those  subordinate 
meetings,  or  members,  in  any  way  or  manner  not 
strictly  in  conformity  with  that  discipline,  or  the 
rights  thereby  guaranteed  to  them,  or  the  duties 
thereby  enjoined  upon  them.  And  when  the  supe- 
rior meeting,  or  its  deputation  attempt  more,  it  will 
directly  tend  to  destroy  the  compact. 

For  in  direct  proportion  to  the  superiority  of 
order  in  which  the  different  bodies  stand,  in  that 
same  proportion  w^ill  a  violation  of  the  usages  of  the 
discipline  tend  to  mar,  if  not  to  destroy,  the  ground 
work,  union,  and  authority  of  such  religious  com- 
pact. 

Hence,  we  see  the  responsibility  which  the  com- 
plainants, to  wut,  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
w^ere  under,  to  make  the  discipline  and  its  usages, 
their  guide  and  rule  of  action,  that  they  mete  out  such 


192 


APPEAL. 


measure  to  others  as  they  are  disposed  to  exact  of 
them.  Otherwise,  even  if  the  supposed  offender 
were  guilty  of  a  breach  of  discipline,  those  who 
attempted  to  deal  with  him,  would  labor  but  in  vain  ; 
because  he  would  be  likely  to  say  unto  them,  first 
pull  the  beam  out  of  thine  own  eye,  &c. 

By  the  sequel  is  brought  to  view  an  enquiry, 
whether  this  and  other  committees  and  meetings, 
touching  the  management  of  this  case,  and  its 
inseparable  dependencies,  have  been  careful  to 
adhere  to  our  discipline  as  the  conscientious  admin- 
istrators of  it  ? 

And  seeing  the  committee  assume  for  their  first 
premises,  "Oar  Christian  Discipline,"  and  have 
promptly  appealed  to  it,  in  condemnation  of  the 
appellant,  peradventure  it  may  not  be  amiss  for  him, 
in  the  outset  to  introduce  and  bring  to  view,  some 
of  their  acts  and  proceedings  in  this  very  case,  and 
to  compare  them  with  that  excellent  system  of 
Church  Government. 

1st. — Did  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  pur- 
sue the  course  pointed  out  and  required  by  dis- 
cipline on  pages  33  to  37,  previously  to  entering  a 
complaint  of  detraction  against  him  ? 

2nd. — Did  they  act  in  conformity  with  our  rules 
and  Christian  justice,  in  withholding  from  him  a 
knowledge  of  the  whole  complaint,  as  they  ought  to 
have  done,  agreeable  to  Christ's  directions,  before 
telling  it  to  the  church? 

3rd. — Did  they  not  compel  South  Kingston 
Monthly  Meeting  to  an  immediate  process  of  deal- 
ing, contrary  to  the  order  of  our  discipline,  and  the 
rights  of  individuals,  in  having  a  hearing  by  over- 
seers, and  the  concurrent  voice  and  help  of  a  pre- 
parative meeting,  previous  to  bringing  the  com- 
plaint to  a  Monthly  Meeting  ? 

4th. — Did  not  that  committee  attempt  to  cramp 
and  coerce  the  Monthly  Meeting,  by  threatening  to 
complain  of  it  to  the  Quarter,  if  it  did  not  immedi' 


APPEAL. 


193^ 


ately^  and  without  further  time  for  consideration, 
proceed  to  dcahng? 

5th. — Did  they  not  assume  to  themselves  the  right 
and  authority  of  thus  ordering  such  proceedings, 
the  Discipline  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding  ? 

6th. — Did  they  not  afterwards  attempt  to  inter- 
fere with  tlie  rights  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  in  the  appointment  of  its  officers  ? 

7th. — Did  they  not  join  with  two  disaffected 
members  in  attempting  to  bring  about  a  separation 
in  that  meeting  ? 

8th. — Did  they  not  attempt  the  breaking  up  of 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  for  the  purpose 
of  perverting  judgment  ? 

9th. — Did  they  not  advise  a  member  of  South 
Kingston  MontWy  Meeting  to  withhold  from  it  its 
property  ? 

lOih. — And  are  not  the  Qarterly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee chargeable  with  the  same  offence  in  a  still 
more  aggravated  form,  by  coming  themselves  and 
taking  our  records,  and  removing  them  out  of  our 
limits,  to  a  place  unknown  to  us  ? 

11th. — Did  not  the  two  committees  in  conjunction, 
strive  to  coerce  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting 
to  disown  one  of  its  members  contrary  to  the  re- 
port of  its  committee  of  seven  Friends,  and  contra- 
ry to  its  own  judgment  ? 

12th. — Did  not  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee 
require  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting,  immedi- 
ately to  remove  a  suitable  clerk  from  the  table,  and 
to  place  there  one  of  their  own  choice  ? 

13th. — And  to  cancel  and  undo  some  of  its  pro- 
ceedings for  near  half  a  year  past  ? 

14th. — And  did  they  not  require  of  that  meeting  im- 
mediately to  annul  and  make  void  an  act  thereof 
recorded  two  months  previous  ? — a  measure  that 
would  seriously  affect  the  rights  of  an  individual? 

15th. — Did  they  not,  because  the  Monthly  Meeting 
was  not  prepared  to  adopt  a  measure  so  strange 
9 


194 


'APPEAL. 


and  unprecedented,  without  a  day's  consideration, 
report  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  the  next  week  their 
advice  to  dissolve  said  Monthly  Meeting  ? 

16th.  Did  not  the  Quarterly  Meeting  adopt  that  re- 
port and  lay  down  that  Monthly  Meeting,  and  an- 
nex its  members  to  another,  and  that  without  a 
hearing,  and  to  the  great  abuse  of  the  discipline,  as 
well  as  of  the  Monthly  Meeting  thus  laid  down  ? 

17. — Did  not  the  Committee  of  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing on  the  appeal  of  South  Kingston  Monthly 
Meeting  against  that  judgment,  acknowledge,  in 
open  Yearly  Meeting,  when  they  brought  in  their 
report,  that  the  proceedings  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting 
iDere  not  confoi^mahle  to  our  discipline  ?  Neverthe- 
less, did  not  that  committee  report  it  as  their  judg- 
ment that  the  doings  of  Rhode  Island  Quarterly 
Meeting  ought  to  be  confirmed  ;  and  rendered  as  a 
reason  lor  it  that  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee, 
by  whose  advise  South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting 
was  laid  down,  oiLght  to  he  sustained  ?  Hence  this 
appeal  was  not  decided  by  rules  of  discipline,  but 
by  rules  of  subordination.  And  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, by  the  acceptance  of  that  report,  and  upon  the 
ground  premised  by  the  committee,  have  adopted  a 
precedent  or  rule,  that  the  authority  of  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee  shall  be  paramount  to  the 
discipline,  and  to  the  authority  of  all  subordinate 
meetings.  So  that  no  appeal  in  future  can  go  con- 
trary to  the  will  of  that  committee.  Nor  has  the 
Society  any  reason,  as  we  conceive,  to  expect  them 
to  go  back,  and  hereafter  to  concede  any  of  their 
powers. 

Which  of  these  acts  enquired  after,  if  so,  was  not 
contrary  to  the  spirit  and  letter  of  all  Christian  dis- 
cipline ? 

First  item  in  the  complaint,  (viz :)  "  He  has 
circulated  an  anonymous  pamphlet  which  im- 
peaches the  character  of  our  Society,  and  in  which 
some  of  its  important  doctrines,  as  exemplified  in  the 


APPEAL. 


195 


religious  engagements  of  some  of  its  faithful  minis^ 
ters  are  reproachfully  held  up  to  view"  <^c. 

Reply.  The  pamphlet  alluded  to,  by  the  request 
of  M.  and  B.  Purmton,  who  were  at  the  appellant's 
house,  was  sent  by  them  to  J.  M,  a  minister  at  Pro- 
vidence, with  the  mjunction  not  to  spread  it,  as 
proved  by  the  committee's  own  witness. 

And  the  person  to  whom  it  was  sent,  never  made 
any  comments  upon  it,  good  or  bad,  in  relation  to 
its  exposure  or  merits — it  came  directly  home. 

If  such  be  the  circulating  of  that  pamphlet,  then 
the  appellant  circulated  it ;  and  then  the  committee 
are  chargeable  with  circulating  it,  by  handing  it 
from  one  to  another.  But  their  motives  for  doing 
so  may  possibly  have  been  as  pure  as  his — theirs 
might  have  been  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  their 
friends  views  upon  it,  and  no  harm  came  of  it  nei- 
ther, as  he  knows  of,  although  it  is  evident  they  put 
it  into  many  more  hands  than  he  did, — hence  we 
see  an  entire  failure  in  this  charge,  as  they  could 
prove  no  more  than  his  sending  of  it  to  one  of  their 
own  number.* 

The  appellant  does  freely  acknowledge  that  some 
portions  of  the  pamphlet  alluded  to,  are  of  an  im- 
proper character,  as  will  more  fully  appear  from 
the  following  note,  placed  by  him  upon  one  of  its 
pages  in  writing,  before  letting  it  go  out  of  his 
hands. 

"  The  paragraph  thus  concluded,  appears  to  have 
been  supposed  by  the  writer  to  be  a  conclusive  ar- 
gument against  immediate  revelation  in  the  present 
day,  to  w^it :  that  persons  professing  to  have  the 
mind  of  the  good  Spirit,  should  entertain  contradic- 
tory views  in  relation  to  a  proposition.    But  we 


*  This  pampblet  consisted  principally  of  an  account  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Yearly  Meeting  and  the  Select  Yearly  Meeting  of 
London,  in  the  year  1837 — giving  a  detailed  account  of  the  latter  in 
its  liberatiou  of  J.  J.  Gumey  to  visit  America. 


196 


APPEAL. 


should  have  supposed  that,  reason,  his  governing 
rule,  would  have  dictated  his  conclusion,  that  if  one 
was  right  the  other  must  be  wrong,  as  both  could 
not  be  right  nor  both  wrong  ;  as  in  case  of  the  pro- 
phets who  were  consulted  in  the  question  whether 
the  two  kings  should  go  to  battle  against  the  Assy- 
rians. Ahab's  Prophets  told  him  that  he  should 
prevail ;  but  Micaiah,  the  Prophet  of  the  Lord,  spoke 
in  direct  contradiction  ;  and  the  result  of  the  expe- 
dition proved  who  was  the  true  Prophet.  Not 
that  both  were  wrong  ;  nor  will  it  be  plead  that  the 
mere  pretensions  of  the  false  prophets  in  that  day, 
should  destroy  our  faith  in  the  true,  nor  in  the  reve- 
lation of  the  counsel  of  God  to  his  faithful  ministers 
and  servants  in  any  day.  See  account  of  London 
Yearly  Meeting,  1837,  pages  76—77." 

And  I  would  ask  if  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Com- 
mittee placed  upon  that  book  any  written  marks  of 
their  disapprobation  of  any  passage  in  it  before  hand- 
ing it  from  one  to  another  ?  The  appellant  conceives 
it  unnecessary  to  follow  any  further,  the  commit- 
tee's complaint  as  to  this  pamphlet,  or  upon  its 
bearing  upon  the  character  of  any  Friend,  inasmuch 
as  he  has  not  circulated  it,  and  acknowledges  parts 
of  it  to  be  unsound,  and  certified  it  therein. 

Second  item  in  the  complaint,  viz  : 

"  The  object  of  which,  together  with  sundry  letters  which 
he  has  circulated^  appears  to  he  to  induce  the  belief  that 
the  concern  {the  liberation  of  a  minister  from  England  to 
visit  this  country,)  did  not  receive  the  unity  of  the  meeting; 
and  that  the  clerk  did  not  act  in  conformity  with  the  true 
sense  and  judgment  of  the  meeting  in  signing  the  certi' 
JicateP 

The  letters  alluded  to,  when  brought  forward, 
speak  for  themselves,  and  no  one  has  ventured  to 
call  in  question  the  truth  of  any  account  of  that 
meeting,  that  has  been  produced :  but  both  the 
pamphlet  and  letters  from  correspondents,  certify 
us  that  the  concern  did  receive  the  full  approbation 


APPEAL. 


197 


of  a  part  of  the  meeting ;  and  probably  the  clerk 
was  correct  when  he  said  he  thought  that  the 
greater  number  of  those  who  had  spoken  were  in 
favor  of  granting  the  certificate  ;  which  J.  W.  does 
not  recollect  to  have  seen  disputed  in  any  letter. 
Nor  has  he  ever  to  his  recollection  represented  the 
case  differently.  But  he  has  seen  it  expressed  in  a 
letter  "  that  the  parties  were  believed  to  be  nearly 
balanced." 

And  whether  the  reasons  rendered  by  some  of 
those  who  objected,  for  the  view  which  they  took 
of  it,  to  wit :  the  defective  character  of  his  doctrines 
was  a  sufficient  reason  for  the  knowledge  of  that 
dissension  reaching  America,  the  appellant  will 
leave  for  those  who  are  concerned  for  the  safety  of 
the  Society  to  judge.  But  he  knows  it  to  be  the 
opinion  of  these  that  the  denial  of  so  many  of  our 
fundamental  doctrines  by  that  Friend,  is  not  only 
sufficient  cause  for  the  Society  at  large  to  know  that 
many  faithful  Friends  in  that  meeting  did  remon- 
strate against  his  going  abroad,  and  rendered  good 
reasons  for  it,  and  did  not  concede  their  views  from 
first  to  last. 

And  the  appellant  still  deems  J.  J.  Gurney's  de- 
nial of  our  early  standard  writers,  to  be  a  sufficient 
reason  for  whatever  himself  has  said  or  done,  tend- 
ing as  is  alleged  in  this  complaint,  to  close  up  the 
way  of  the  individual  alluded  to  :  and  all  relating, 
originally  and  principally,  if  not  exclusively,  to  his 
defections  in  doctrine. 

The  appellant  claims,  and  has  the  right  to  make 
apparent  what  the  ground  of  his  objections  to  J.  J. 
G.  really  is,  and  the  reasons  for  the  course  he  has 
taken,  and  to  prove  by  a  reference  to  his  writings, 
that  he  had  good  cause  for  such  a  course.  And  this 
committee  being  bound  by  our  discipline,  by  our 
doctrines  and  our  testimonies,  cannot  deny  him  the 
good  right  of  making  his  defence  of  that  course,  by 
showing  that  he  had  sufficient  reason  for  it ;  and 


198 


APPEAL. 


whether  those  reasons  rest  upon  the  personal  char- 
acter of  the  man  or  upon  his  doctrines,  the  result 
will  determine. 

When  Elias  Hicks  applied  for  certificates  to 
travel  in  the  latter  part  of  his  time,  had  those 
Friends  who  felt  dissatisfied  with  him  and  his  reli- 
gious opinions  a  right  to  object  to  his  liberation  on 
that  account ;  and  had  Friends  where  he  went  a 
right  to  know  of  that  objection,  and  the  ground 
of  it  ? 

And  had  they  a  right  to  inform  one  another  of 
the  unsoundness  of  his  doctrines  by  way  of  caution 
against  the  imbibing  of  them  ?  If  we  have  no  such 
right  now,  our  case  is  precarious  and  alarming. 
Was  E.  H.'s  certificate  a  protection  or  foreclosure 
against  all  inquiries  or  information  in  relation  to  the 
state  of  his  views,  which  were  the  same  after  as 
they  were  before  his  liberation?  And  were  not  his 
letter  to  Phoebe  Willis  and  his  printed  sermons  a 
sufficient  warrantee  for  an  exposure  of  his  views 
when  abroad,  though  written  and  printed  previous 
to  his  liberation  ? 

Now,  if  it  be  the  case  that  the  corresponding 
framework  of  the  Society,  throughout  all  the  Yearly 
Meetings  and  their  dependencies  is  so  delicate  and 
fragile  ;  or  if  it  be  the  case  with  any  one  of  them, 
that  its  travelling  ministers  cannot  be  called  upon  to 
give  account  of  their  unsound  books  which  they 
had  written  before  their  liberation,  or  for  unsound 
doctrines  which  they  held,  and  continue  to  hold, 
without  an  interruption  of  good  faith  and  a  good 
understanding ;  then  our  situation  is  unpropitious 
and  forlorn  indeed,  and  our  continuance  on  the 
primitive  foundation  precarious  and  uncertain  ;  and 
especially  now,  seeing  a  disposition  prevails  among 
us  to  uphold  and  defend  those  persons  who  do  not 
hesitate  to  deny  the  soundness  of  Robert  Barclay 
and  other  standard  writers  in  defence  of  our  funda- 
mental doctrines. 


APPEAL. 


199 


Similar  charges  to  those  last  noticed  are  reitera- 
ted through  this  protracted  paragraph,  avouching 
the  credibility  of  the  person  and  the  authority  of 
his  credentials  and  accusing  the  appellant  with 
want  of  abidance  in  the  truth,  &c.  But  does  the 
credence  given  to  the  certificates  in  question,  by 
New  England  and  most  other  Yearly  Meetings  in 
America,  as  in  the  complaint  set  forth,  any  more 
prove  the  doctrines  of  the  bearer  to  be  sound,  than 
did  the  credence  given  to  the  certificates  of  Hannah 
Barnard  in  the  Yearlv  Meeting^s  of  London  and 
Dublin,  and  their  subordinate  meetings,  prove  her  to 
have  been  sound  in  doctrine  1 

And  were  not  those  who  were  so  adventurous  in 
London  under  those  circumstances,  as  to  call  in 
question  the  standing  of  Hannah  Barnard,  probably 
as  chargeable  with  a  want  of  abiding  in  the  truth  as 
he  who  questions  the  soundness  of  J.  J.  G.,  if  the 
accrediting  of  certificates  is  to  be  esteemed  as  a  test  ? 
And  are  not  "  all  faithful  Friends"  so  earnestly  call- 
ed upon  and  enjoined  by  our  discipline,  (see  Book 
of  Discipline,  page  74,)  to  bear  testimony  against 
those  who  entertain  unsound  doctrines,  (if  obedient 
to  that  injunction,)  just  as  chargeable  with  a  want  of 
abidance  in  the  truth,  because  they  have  done  so, 
as  is  the  appellant  for  the  same  thing  ?  It  is  evident 
by  the  discipline  alluded  to,  that  if  any  one,  no  mat- 
ter who,  advances  unsound  doctrines,  it  is  only  to 
be  made  to  appear,  to  entitle  him  who  conscien- 
tiously testifies  against  them,  to  justification  ;  and 
not  only  by  the  discipline  but  by  its  author,  the 
truth  itself :  for  the  truth  always  stands  opposed 
and  always  bears  witness  against  false  doctrines, 
as  abundantly  appears  in  the  holy  Scriptures. 

The  great  object  of  guarding  the  Society  of 
Friends  against  false  doctrines  stands  over  and 
above  all  other  considerations  relative  to  the  com- 
pact, because  false  doctrines  make  way  for  and 
have  always  been  succeeded  by  bad  conduct  and 


200 


APPEAL. 


pernicious  consequences ;  whilst  a  sound  faith  holds 
together  all  the  members  in  one,  and  guards  them 
against  deviations  from  Christian  rectitude. 

And  it  is  a  fact  that  cannot  be  disproved;  nor, 
can  any  one  rightfully  gainsay  it,  that  the  late  in- 
troduction of  unsound  views  into  the  Society  have 
been  the  occasion  of  the  doctrinal  dissensions  now 
existing  in  almost  all  parts  of  it. 

The  Discipline  referred  to  speaks  of  "  the  impor- 
tance of  steadfastly  maintaining  our  ancient  princi- 
ples respecting  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  ear- 
nestly  recommends  and  enjoins  upon  Quarterly  and 
Monthly  Meetings,  and  upon  all  faithful  friends^ 
to  be  watchful  over  our  members  as  regards  the 
profession  of  their  faith,  &c.,  and  if  in  any  instance 
there  should  be  manifest  any  deviation  from  our 
Christian  priciples,  in  these  respects,  that  they  pro- 
ceed to  labor,  &c."  [But  according  to  the  reason- 
ing of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  some 
others,  this  discipline  is  in  full  force  upon  all,  except 
ministers  travelling  with  certificates,  and  them  it 
does  not  reach,  having  a  license  embodied  in  their 
credentials,  which  no  Discipline  can  reach,  however 
impartial  in  its  operations,  or  binding  upon  all  in  its 
conclusions.  Nay,  if  they  have  good  credentials 
from  abroad,  they  may  record  their  denial  of  Fox, 
Penn  and  Barclay,  and  spread  it  over  the  whole  so- 
ciety, and  yet  neither  Quarterly  or  Monthly  Meet- 
ing, nor  any  faithful  friend  can  take  cognizance  of 
the  case  !  Old  fashioned  Quakers  had  never  before 
known  snch  economy  as  this,  that  there  are  some 
ivho  have  an  exclusive  right  to  hold  and  publish  such 
sentiments  as  they  choose,  and  that  without  reme- 
dy!] 

The  respondents  are  called  upon  to  prove  that 
the  appellant  has  said  or  written  any  thing  which 
w^as  not  applicable  to  the  one  great  object  of  dis- 
suading the  society  from  imbibing  those  dividing 
and  degenerating  sentiments. 


APPEAL. 


201 


And  he  is  not  disappointed  that  the  respondents 
do  suppose  it  to  be  for  their  interest,  and  should 
therefore  strive  to  avoid,  if  possible,  any  allusion  to 
doctrines,  because  primarily  the  alleged  offence  of 
the  appellant  rested  upon  the  stand  which  he  made 
against  those  doctrines  ;  hence  the  obtaining  of  his 
rights  hinges  upon  the  exposition  of  them,  and  there- 
fore it  would  be  great  injustice  to  him  and  to  the 
cause,  to  debar  him  from  canvassing  those  doctrines, 
inasmuch  as  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  in 
their  complaint  have  taken  up  the  case  of  J.  J. 
Gurney,  and  have  defended  him,  and  in  w^hich,  if 
his  doctrines  be  fundamentally  right,  then  the  com- 
mittee have  certainly  done  right  in  upholding  and 
defending  him,  and  John  Wilbur  has  certainly  done 
wrong,  and  ought  to  condemn  his  course.  But 
on  the  contrary,  if  on  a  careful  investigation  of  those 
doctrines,  and  a  comparison  of  them  with  those  of 
R.  Barclay,  they  are  found  to  be  fundamentally 
wrong,  then  of  course  the  committee  are  wrong  in 
taking  up  his,  J.  J.  Gurney's  cause,  and  in  defending 
him  against  those  w^ho  are  honestly  concerned  for 
the  honor  of  Truth ;  and  the  readiest  way,  if  not 
the  only  way,  to  convince  these  concerned  friends 
that  they  are  mistaken,  is  to  go  into  a  deliberate 
examination  of  the  doctrines  in  question. 

If  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  do  believe, 
as  they  say,  that  J.  J.  G.  is  a  sound  friend,  with 
their  ability  to  explain  and  define  sound  doctrines, 
and  the  object  of  reconcihation  upon  sound  princi- 
ples being  so  exceedingly  desirable,  why  object, 
why  not  at  once  accomplish  a  thing  so  highly  im- 
portant ? 

And  if  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  will  show 
him,  and  prove  to  him  that  those  doctrines  are  sepa- 
rately and  collectively  in  accordance  with  our 
standard  writers,  then,  and  under  that  proviso,  the 
appellant  will  acknowledge  the  course  which  he 
has  taken  to  be  wrong  and  reprehensible,  and  will 

9 


202 


ArPBAL. 


pursue  his  appeal  no  further,  because  the  whole 
course  of  his  proceedings  in  this  case  was  under  an 
apprehension  of  their  unsoundness. 

But  on  the  contrary,  if  it  is  clearly  proveable  that 
the  writings  of  J.  J.  G.,  on  some  of  the  fundamen- 
tal points  of  our  principles,  are  unsound,  and  such 
as  our  discipline  enjoins  on  all  faithful  friends  to  tes- 
tify against,  then  it  will  and  must  be  agreed,  that 
his  concern  in  testifying  against  them  is  justifiable. 

Now,  therefore,  let  the  meeting  for  Sufferings,  or 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee,  officially  decide 
the  question,  as  they  have  heretofore  been  desired 
to  do,  whether  these  specified  doctrines  are  in  con- 
formity with  the  doctrines  of  Fox,  Barclay,  Penn 
and  Penington,  and  if  they  do  officially  and  candid- 
ly decide  that  they  are,  then  I  will  prosecute  my 
appeal  no  further.  But  if  they  find  themselves  un- 
der the  necessity  to  decide,  that  some  of  his  doc- 
trines are  fundamentally  at  variance  with  the  doc- 
trines of  Friends,  and  as  in  duty  bound  by  the  Disci- 
pline, report  them  so,  as  a  caution  to  Friends  against 
imbibing  them,  then  they  will  have  done  the  same 
that  the  appellant  has  done,  and  will  feel  honestly 
bound  and  disposed,  as  he  trusts,  to  advise  the  res- 
toration of  his  right  of  membership  in  the  Society. 

So  this  committee,  appointed  by  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, now  sitting  to  decide  upon  this  appeal,  if  they  find, 
by  a  full  and  impartial  examination  that  these  doc- 
trines are  radically  defective,  then  the  course  which 
the  appellant  has  taken  (in  all  sincerity,)  with  an  eye 
to  the  safety  of  our  principles  and  testimonies,  will 
be  justified  in  conformity  with  our  Discipline,  which 
is  decidedly  and  scrupulously  to  be  the  rule  and 
guide  of  all  committees  entrusted  with  the  society^s 
concerns.  They  are  to  judge  with  a  righteous  judg- 
ment, as  I  trust  they  are  aware,  and  to  be  tender  of 
the  rights  and  religious  concerns  of  individuals,  as 
well  as  to  guard  the  society  against  any  infraction 
upon  its  discipline  or  testimonies. 


APPEAL. 


203 


But  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  themselves, 
in  their  complaint,  as  it  has  been  seen,  refer  to  doc- 
trines, to  what  they  justly  call  some  of  the  important 
doctrines  of  the  Societi/,  charging  the  appellant  with 
having  reproached  those  doctrines,  and  some  who 
hold  them,  and  were  fully  allowed  before  the  commit- 
tee of  South  Kingston  Mo.  Meeting  to  do  what  they 
could  to  substantiate  that  charge,  a  privilege  which 
the  appellant  now  in  turn  asks  for,  for  they  were  not 
only  allowed  to  exhibit  their  evidence,  but  to  plead 
in  support  of  their  complaint  in  relation  to  doctrines.* 

Third  item. — f  "  That  for  the  want  of  maintain- 
ing his  integi'ity  in  that  dependence  upon  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  would  have  preserved  him  in  unity  with 
Friends,  he  has  indulged  in  a  spirit  of  detraction, 


*  Here  the  respondents  strongly  remonstrated  against  allowing  the 
appellant  to  represent  his  case  upon  doctrinal  premises,  and  con- 
eiderable  time  was  taken  np  in  debating  upon  the  question  of 
Right  before  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  on  the  appeal.  The 
committee  did  not  finally  decide  it  as  a  question  of  rights,  but  of 
expediency,  to  let  the  appellant  proceed  on  doctrines,  without  in- 
terruption, as  a  saving  of  time. 

The  Yearly  jVIeetuig's  Committee  not  only  referred  to  doctrines 
in  their  complaint,  but  did,  on  all  the  occasions  of  the  investigation 
before  committees,  adduce  as  evidence  against  him,  a  letter  pre- 
viously written  to  J.  M.,  one  of  their  number,  which  was  gi-ound- 
fid  almost  exclusively  on  doch'ines.  The  producing  ot  this  letter 
was  truly  satisfactory  to  the  appellant,  as  thereby  the  complainants 
brought  to  view,  in  part  at  least,  the  doctrinal  ground  desired.  But 
the  advantage  which  they  at  first  appeared  to  expect  to  derive  from 
it  was  this: — The  receiver  of  it  appeared  to  have  kept  it  pretty 
close,  and  the  writer  being  desirous  that  another  friend  should  be 
put  in  possession  of  similar  information,  sent  him  a  copy  ot  it  as 

a  copy  of  a  letter  from  one  friend  to  another  in  his  posses^ 
sion,^^  and  inasmuch  as  the  writer  did  not  inform  the  second  recipir- 
ent  that  himself  was  its  author,  it  was  inferred  by  the  committee 
that  he  had  intended  the  receiver  should  think  that  others  had  such 
views  as  well  as  himself,  but  the  reader  may  judge  whether  this 
manner  was  pursued  by  the  writer  of  that  letter,  to  avoid  the  ap- 
pearance of  self-estimation,  or  to  encompass  the  judgment  of 
another.  Be  that  decision  as  it  may,  the  letter  he  believes  has 
been  in  the  right  place  and  there  put  by  the  right  hands. 

t  No  small  thing  to  make  so  many  and  such  heavy  chai'ges  against 
£  friend  unjustly. 


204 


APPEAL. 


in  speaking  and  writing,  hy  which  the  religious 
character  of  divers  friends  in  our  own  and  other 
Yearly  Meetings,  has  been  much  misrepresented. 

Some  strangers,  (and  one  of  them  a  minister) 
travelling  with  certificates,  fell  in  at  the  house  of 
John  Wilbur,  and  introduced  much  conversation  on 
doctrines  as  well  as  on  men  and  their  religious  opi- 
nions, making  remarks,  and  in  a  manner  calculated 
to  draw  conversation  from  J.  W.,  and  as  it  after- 
wards appeared,  with  an  intention  to  do  so,  and  to 
make  use  of  it  to  his  disadvantage.  They  also  en- 
quired, as  he  remembers,  as  to  the  soundness  of 
some  Friends  here  <  and  as  one  or  two  of  those  en- 
quired after,  were  known  to  have  changed  their 
views,  and  strongly  to  have  sustained  Joseph  John 
Gurney,  these  questions  were  answered  conforma- 
bly to  those  circumstances,  and  allusion  was  made 
to  the  influence  which  large  gratuitous  donations 
had  produced,  as  it  appeared,  on  some  who  had  re- 
ceived those  gratuities.  Before  these  Friends  left 
New  England,  John  Wilbur  found  that  their  sym- 
pathies were  with  Elisha  Bates,  lamenting  as  they 
did,  the  step  which  he  had  taken,  viz :  being  bap- 
tized with  w^ater,  inasmuch  as  it  led  to  his  being 
separated  from  Friends,  and  at  the  same  time  strong- 
ly advocated  his  opinion  of  the  resurrection  of  the 
body.  And  one  of  them  finally  betrayed  his  own 
agreement  with  the  Beaconites  in  their  opinion  of 
X\iQ  paramount  authority  and  standing  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures. 

Those  men,  it  seems,  in  a  most  dishonorable  and 
unchristian  manner,  carried  what  they  had  gather- 
ed (though  one  of  them  says,  they  were  almost  com- 
pelled to  do  it)  to  members  of  the  Quarterly  and 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committees,  (in  full  tale  if  not 
more  than  measure,)  and  that  without  letting  J. 
W.  know  of  their  intentions,  or  of  suggesting  to 
him  the  least  dissatisfaction  with  any  thing  he  had 
said  to  them  ;  so  unlike  the  ambassadors  of  Him  who 


APPEAL. 


205 


said,  "  If  thy  brother  trespass  against  thee,  go  and 
tell  him  his  fault  between  thee  and  him  alone,"  &c. 
And  if  there  had  been  cause  for  complaint  would 
they  not  have  done  it  ? 

Now,  inasmuch  as  this  last  mentioned  course,  as 
directed  by  the  Saviour,  w^as  not  taken  either  by  the 
strangers,  or  by  the  members  of  the  committees,  nor 
yet  the  course  pursued,  so  clearly  and  fully  enjoin- 
ed and  required  by  our  discipline  to  be  pursued,  be- 
fore a  complaint  can  be  brought  to  a  Monthly  Meet- 
ing for  detraction  or  defamation,  and  inasmuch,  too, 
as  the  words  spoken  were  true,  (unless  J.  J.  Gur- 
ney's  doctrines  are  sound  Quaker  doctrines)  no 
such  complaint  can  be  sustained  by  our  rulers. 

And  how  consistent  w-ith  good  practical  experi- 
ence is  the  course  pointed  out  by  the  Saviour  and 
by  the  framers  of  our  Discipline.  A  mode  by  which, 
it  is  probable,  most  of  such  conversations  might  be 
amicably  understood  to  the  removal  of  all  unplea- 
sant feehngs.  And  if  the  right  course  in  this  case 
had  been  taken  at  first,  if  any  uneasiness  w^as  really 
felt,  J.  W.  has  no  doubt  that  such  feelings  might 
have  been  removed,  if  others  had  no  more  disposi- 
tion for  controversy  than  himself,  or  to  propagate 
unsound  principles. 

When  the  complaint  was  first  acted  upon  in 
Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  the  right  of 
objecting  to  a  portion  of  the  committee  w^as  claim- 
ed on  behalf  of  the  appellant,  the  complainants  did 
disclaim  all  charge  of  detraction  in  their  complaint 
against  him,  and  declared  that  if  the  word  detraC' 
tion  was  therein  contained,  it  was  incidental. 

However  it  may  be  with  this  last  declaration, 
they  might  well  relinquish  this  charge.  1st.  Be- 
cause neither  themselves  nor  the  witnesses  they  re- 
hed  upon  had  proceeded  in  the  matter  according  to 
the  Christian  rule  of  our  Discipline,  and  2d.  Because 
it  was  unfounded ;  they  were  unable  to  disprove 


206 


ArrEAL. 


the  words  spoken,  for  the  reason  that  they  were 
true. 

The  apparent  object  of  this  disclaimer  of  the 
charge  of  detraction,  was  to  give  a  pretext  for  de- 
nying the  appellant  his  right  of  objection  to  any 
part  of  the  committee.* 

Fourth  item. — "  That  he  has  made  divers  asser- 
tions tending  to  induce  dissatisfaction  among  Friends, 
and  with  the  proceedings  of  our  Yearly  Meeting  in 
various  particulars,  and  calculated  to  produce  divi- 
sion therein,  and  also  to  disturb  the  unity  of  different 
Yearly  Meetings,  and  to  alienate  the  feelings  of 
their  members  from  each  other. 

In  answer  to  this  it  is  only  necessary  now  to  say, 
that  the  appellant  has  no  knowledge  of  giving  any 
just  cause  for  such  charges,  and  that  he  recollects 
no  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  complainants,  to  prove 
them  to  the  committees  on  the  case,  appointed  by 
the  meetings  belowf. 

It  may  be  asked,  whether  the  well  grounded  un- 
easiness which  the  appellant  felt  wdth  the  publish- 
ed and  unretracted  doctrinal  sentiments  of  "  the 
Friend"  to  whom  the  committee  have  so  frequently 
alluded  in  their  complaint  against  him,  (and  upon 
which  indeed  it  seems  to  be  principally  founded)  was 
more  likely  to  "induce  dissatisfaction  with  the  pro- 
ceedings of  this  Yearly  Meeting,  to  produce  division 
therein"  or  "to  disturb  the  unity  of  different  Year- 
ly Meetings,  and  to  alienate  the  feelings  of  their 
members  from  each  other,  than  was  the  conduct  of 


*  On  the  trial  before  the  committee  of  the  Yearly  Meeting,  the 
appellant  took  the  ground  that  the  complainants  had  relinquished 
their  charge  of  detraction,  as  above,  and  the  respondents  did  not  at- 
tempt to  gainsay  it. 

t  This  was  stated  to  the  committee  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  on  the 
Appeal  to  remind  the  respondents  that  they  now  had  an  opportuni- 
ty to  prove  those  charges,  if  able  to  do  so,  but  they  made  no  reply. 


APPEAL. 


207 


the  members  of  this  same  committee  who  preferred 
these  charges  ;  in  assuming  the  control  of  the  Year- 
ly Meeting,  and  so  overruling  its  proceedings  as  to 
send  back  without  certificates  in  the  year  1843, 
three  ministers  in  attendance  from  Philadelphia 
Yearly  Meeting,  and  one  from  Ohio,  as  well  as  their 
companions  respectively,  all  of  whom  were  in  the 
station  of  elders  except  one  ;  and  with  the  like  ex- 
ceptions all  were  as  duly  furnished  with  the  neces- 
sary credentials,  which  were  also  as  "  duly  present- 
ed, received  and  accredited"  as  those  of  "the  Friend" 
first  mentioned,  thus  setting  them  at  liberty  for  reli- 
gious service  therein,  "  in  the  full  and  acknowledged 
character  of  approved  and  authenticated  ministers" 
and  elders  "  of  the  Society  of  Friends  ?"  And 
whether  the  conduct  of  the  same  committee,  subse- 
quently, has  not  been  eminently  calculated  to  pro- 
duce the  very  result  which  they  have  unjustly 
charged  upon  John  Wilbur?  In  the  year  1844,  a 
deputation  from  the  same  or  of  the  Select  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  mostly  composed  of  the  same 
individuals,  called  on  another  minister  in  attendance 
from  Ohio  Yearly  Meeting,  also  with  as  full  certifi- 
cates from  his  Monthly  and  Quarterly  Meeting, 
which  had  been  as  duly  received  and  accredited, 
and  which  embraced  a  prospect  of  religious  service 
within  our  Hmits,  beyond  the  mere  attendance  of 
the  Yearly  Meeting,  and  informed  him  that  he  could 
not  travel  here  unless  he  would  unite  with  their 
proceeding  and  comply  with  their  advice  to  refrain 
from  associating  with  those  who  were  knov/n  to  be 
dissatisfied  with  the  unsound  doctrines  of  Joseph 
John  Gurney,  ["  the  Friend"  to  whom  allusion  is 
made  in  their  complaint  against  J.  W.]  ^He  too, 
was  turned  back  without  being  allowed  to  perform 
the  visit  he  had  in  prospect,  and  without  the  usual 
returning  credentials  !  But  these  ministers  and 
their  companions  wej-e  known  to  have  maintained 
their  integrity  and  allegiance  to  the  original  prin^ 


808 


APPEAL. 


cipIeSf  order  and  Discipline  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
and  to  be  opposed  to  the  change  attempted  therein, 
and  to  the  disorder  and  misrule  which  followed 
that  attempt,  on  the  part  of  the  adherents  of  Joseph 
John  Gurney,  the  members  of  this  committee  and 
many  others. 

Fifth  and  last  item  in  the  complaint. — That  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  one  of  the  committee,  in  which  he 
made  unjust  insinuations,  and  preferred  charges 
against  them,  which  they  deny  in  point  of  fact. 

The  letter  here  alluded  to,  written  to  the  Select 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  is  as  follows,  being 
now  prefaced  by  a  few  introductory  remarks. 

When  sentiments  are  spread  in  the  Society  by  any 
of  its  members,  which  strike  at  the  root  of  its  fun- 
damental doctrines,  and  properly  coming  under  the 
character  of  "pernicious  books,"  how  important 
that  all  into  whose  hands  these  works  may  be  likely 
to  come,  should  be  told  of  the  dangerous  tendency 
of  the  views  therein  contained.  And  what  minister 
or  elder,  overseer  or  parent,  concerned  for  the  safe- 
ty of  the  flock,  can  feel  himself,  (as  one  that  is  to 
give  account)  acquitted  from  the  blood  of  the  inno- 
cent, without  faithfully  detecting  the  evil  which  he 
is  given  to  see,  and  warning  them  against  receiving 
the  misleading  sentiments  as  well  as  against  read- 
ing the  books  which  contain  them. 

It  was  under  impressions  like  these  that  the  writer 
of  the  following  letter  consulted,  by  way  of  corres- 
pondence, divers  ministers  and  elders  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  endeavored  to  discourage  others  from  ad- 
hering to  doctrines  of  this  description,  now  spread 
abroad  among  us. 

This  testimony,  he  believed  it  to  be  his  religious 
duty  to  bear,  and  in  doing  which  his  peace,  as  he 
apprehended,  w^as  concerned,  "  as  one  that  is  set 
for  a  defence  of  the  gospel,"  however  unworthy, 
and  did  on  many  occasions,  though  not  so  faithfully 
as  the  truth  dictated,  point  out  to  his  friends  some 


LBTTEK  TO  T.  A. 


209 


of  the  errors  to  be  found  in  certain  books  purport- 
ing to  be  Friend's  doctrine,  but  tending  to  lead  them 
astray,  and  to  warn  them  against  the  adoption  of 
such  opinions,  a  course  which  it  seems,  gave  offence 
to  some  of  the  Friends  of  the  author  of  those  books. 

And  of  a  committee  appointed  in  Rhode  Island 
Select  Quarterly  Meeting  in  the  5th  month,  1840, 
most  of  the  number  proved  themselves  to  be  of  this 
description.  And,  however,  the  committee  was  ap- 
pointed professedly  for  the  purpose  of  restoring 
unity  in  one  or  two  select  meetings,  whose  account 
expressed  a  want  of  it.  Yet  this  committee,  going 
entirely  in  another  direction  from  the  business  of 
their  appointment,  as  well  as  beyond  any  authority 
with  which  our  discipline  clothes  them,  they  arrest- 
ed the  writer,  relative  to  his  proceedings  touching 
those  unsound  doctrines,  entered  into  judgment  and 
attempted  to  lay  the  restraint  of  their  advice  upon 
him,  to  wit :  "  To  stay  at  home  and  to  be  quiet," 
and  that  without  allowing  him  to  exhibit  evidence 
to  show  that  he  had  good  cause  for  the  course  he 
had  taken ! 

This  unauthorised  injunction  of  the  committee, 
and  their  refusal  to  hear  evidence  which  he  offered, 
sufficient  to  exculpate  him  from  all  blame,  gave  oc- 
casion to  him  to  address  to  them  the  following  let- 
ter, a  few  weeks  afterwards,  directed  to  the  first 
named  on  that  committee : 

LETTER. 

HoPKiNTON,  the  30th  of  5th  mo.,  1840. 
To  my  dear  friend  T.  A. : 

After  thus  allowing  time  for  solid  deliberation  on 
the  subject  of  discussion  with  friends  at  thy  daugh- 
ter's, it  seems  right  for  me  to  address  a  few  lines  to 
thee  in  relation  thereto,  inasmuch  as  I  had  not  full 
opportunity  in  the  end  to  speak  for  myself,  by  rea- 


210 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


son  of  the  claims  of  others  on  the  time,  as  well  as 
the  want  of  time  ;  thou  wilt,  I  apprehend,  allow  me 
the  opportunity  of  reviewing  it  in  this  way,  and  to 
remark  further  upon  the  charges  brought  against 
me,  and  as  I  trust,  will  hear  me  patiently,  seeing 
that  vastly  more  is  involved  in  the  consideration  of 
the  question  than  merely  the  exculpation  or  con- 
demnation of  an  individual,  without  allowing  him 
fhe  right,  both  civil  and  religious,  of  a  defence,  not 
only  of  himself,  but  of  the  testimonies  and  usages 
of  the  society,  such  as  truth  and  justice  call  for. 

Thou  art  well  aware  that  even  in  the  civil  de- 
partment the  laws  of  the  land  allow  the  accused  a 
defence  of  himself  in  all  the  bearings  of  his  case, 
and  not  only  so,  they  premise  if  need  be,  that  he 
should  be  provided  with  counsel,  lest  unhappily  the 
innocent  should  be  adjudged  guilty.  And  in  the  re- 
ligious department  thou  wilt  agree  that  a  still  higher 
and  purer  order  of  justice  and  righteousness  is  con- 
templated, for  beyond  all  controversy,  such  is  the 
true  character  of  Christianity,  and  its  superiority 
over  every  other  system  of  moral  or  civil  order  in- 
stituted by  the  children  of  men. 

But  when  we  become  acquainted  with  the  his- 
tory of  ecclesiastical  transactions  since  the  Chris- 
tian era,  we  are  bound  to  acknowledge  that  the 
civil  has  never  been  more  abused  than  the  religious, 
under  the  dominion  of  power. 

But  to  come  directly  to  the  question,  and  the 
capacity  in  which  friends  acted,  1  deem  it  right  for 
me  to  remark,  that  I  might  suppose  they  acted  as 
individuals  under  an  apprehension  of  the  necessity 
of  the  case,  and  not  as  a  committee  of  the  Select 
Quarterly  Meeting,  for  the  appointment  of  the 
committee  was  grounded,  and  only  grounded,  (if  I 
understand  it,)  upon  deficiencies  represented  in  the 
answers  to  the  queries  from  the  subordinate  meet- 
ings, and  consequently,  friends  could  not  as  a  com- 
mittee of  that  meeting,  extend  care  to  any  meeting, 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


211 


or  to  a  member  of  it,  which  gave  no  account  of 
deficiencies  in  relation  to  things  queried  after  ;  and 
no  tangible  inference  can  be  drawn  from  that  of 
South  Kingston,  (however  it  may  be  in  others.)  that 
there  does  any  want  of  harmony  or  unity  exist  in 
that  meeting;  and  which  I  esteem  as  a  favor,  for 
which  we  are  bound  to  be  thankful.  But  1  am 
entirely  prepared  to  say,  that  I  ever  hope  to  be 
willing  to  receive  advice  either  from  committees  or 
individuals,  acting  conformably  to  the  mind  of  truth, 
and  the  order  estabUshed  in  our  society. 

But  are  friends  now  prepared  to  evacuate  the 
ground  which  has  been  taken,  viz.,  that  a  certificate 
for  a  man  to  travel  as  a  minister  is  a  fall  defence  to 
him,  against  all  comers  in  relation  to  whatever  may 
have  transpired  previous  to  the  issuing  of  that  cer- 
tificate ?  Or  will  they  say  that  the  deputed  right 
of  one  body  shall  be  regarded,  and  that  of  another 
may  be  disregarded  and  contemned  ?  And  does  it 
rest  with  committees  or  others  not  delegated  for 
that  special  purpose,  by  the  Yearly  Meeting  itself, 
to  arrest  the  established  right  and  order  which  that 
body  has  conferred  upon  its  subordinate  branches  ? 
Or  shall  these  things  yet  rest  upon  their  ancient 
foundation  and  usage,  that  when  a  minister,  though 
liberated  by  an  authorized  body,  is  found  defective 
either  m  faith  or  conduct,  and  for  which  satisfaction 
has  not  been  made,  that  he  shall  be  liable  to  be 
called  to  an  account,  by  those  whose  constituted 
duty  it  is,  under  whatsoever  circumstance  he  may 
have  placed  himself,  or  others  may  have  placed 
him  ? 

By  this  rule,  my  dear  friend,  I  am  entirely  wil- 
ling to  be  tried  and  judged,  but  not  upon  mere  hear- 
say, or  vague  allegations  and  reports — not  for  the 
alleged  faults  or  imprudence  of  others  ;  nor  yet  with- 
out a  hearing  upon  the  great  point  and  premises  of 
the  case,  to  wit :  the  stand  which  I  have  taken 
against  the  erroneous  doctrines  which  are  spread 


212 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


abroad  among  us  by  their  author,  both  before  and 
since  his  liberation  for  our  land.  And  whatever  I 
have  said  or  done  in  the  case,  relates  unequivocally 
to  those  doctrines  ;  and  consequently,  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  that  course  rests  upon  the  soundness  or 
unsoundness  of  those  doctrines,  as  will  be  shown 
further  on ;  and  I  hesitate  not  to  say,  that  the  present 
dissension  in  the  society  at  large,  is  the  legitimate 
fruits  of  the  circulation,  and  the  Author's  continued 
adherence  to  the  doctrines  alluded  to.  And  my 
concern  has  been  (as  I  told  Friends  when  together,) 
that  those  sentiments  might  be  clearly  developed 
and  faithfully  reprobated,  so  that  the  fearful  conse- 
quences of  such  dissension  might  be  obviated. 

But  if  these  baneful  doctrines,  or  their  unrelenting 
Author,  which  is  the  same  thing,  are  continued  to 
be  advocated  and  defended,  we  have  reason  to  fear 
that  serious  difficulties  will  ensue  ;  because  there  is 
no  doubt  there  are  some,  and  perhaps  not  a  few  in 
this  Yearly  Meeting,  who  cannot  be  brought  to  the 
adoption  of  such  sentiments,  come  what  may  come. 
And  inasmuch,  as  great  wrong  has  been  inflicted 
upon  the  truth,  and  its  principles,  who,  thinkest  thou, 
my  dear  friend,  will  find  the  most  peace  of  mind  in 
the  result  of  things  1  Will  it  be  those,  who  out  of  a 
good  conscience  have  withstood  those  innovations, 
(though  perhaps  not  always  in  the  most  perfect  line 
of  Divine  wisdom,)  or  those  who  have  delended 
such  views  by  strenuously  advocating  and  warmly 
defending,  and  thereby  giving  strength  to  their 
Author ;  and  by  endeavoring  to  put  down  those 
who  have  honestly  withstood  his  sentiments  '? 

How  any  can  defend  an  unsound  man,  at  the 
expense  and  rejection  of  those  who  are  sound,  and 
yet  be  actmg  upon  sound  principles,  is  a  problem 
which  I  very  much  desire  to  see  demonstrated,  if 
demonstrated  it  can  be. 

I  will  now  remark  upon  the  charges  brought 
against  me,  and  however  so  trivial  as  some  of  them 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


213 


are,  and  so  unreasonable  as  others  appear  to  me, 
yet  as  they  have  been  deemed  by  ministers  and 
elders  to  be  worth  naming,  they  will  be  recognized  by 
way  of  a  defence  and  apology,  for  the  course  I  have 
taken. 

1st.  That  I  have  frequently  in  conversation  and 
in  writing,  reprobated  some  of  the  statements  of  J. 
J.  Gurney,  and  even  on  some  occasions  when  abroad 
in  the  ministry.  To  this  charge,  so  worded,  I  con- 
fess guilty,  if  guilt  is  attached  thereto,  and  in  re- 
marking upon  it,  I  will  first  ask  thee  Thomas,  whether 
thou  will  admit  that  a  professed  minister  abroad, 
could  be  chargeable  with  doctrines  so  dangerous  as 
to  warrant  such  procedure  ? 

2d.  Whether  the  doctrines  of  Hannah  Bernard 
and  Elias  Hicks,  were  so  exceptionable  as  to  war- 
rant a  watchword  to  the  churches  under  similar 
circumstances  ? 

3d.  Whether  Moses  and  the  Prophets  were  war- 
ranted, in  so  full  and  so  public  a  manner,  as  they 
often  did,  in  testifying  against  the  abuses  of  the 
doctrines  and  commandments  of  the  former  cove- 
nant? 

4th.  Whether  the  apostle  Paul  and  George  Fox 
did  right  in  publicly  withstanding  and  marking 
those,  who  caused  divisions  by  introducing  doctrines 
contrary  to  the  doctrines  of  Christ  ? 

The  Apostle,  it  seems,  in  his  public  epistle,  en- 
treated his  brethren,  without  distinction  of  age  or 
standing,  and  without  exception  to  any  circumstance 
to  mark  those  which  cause  divisions  and  offences, 
contrary  to  the  doctrines  which  they  have  learned, 
and  to  avoid  them.  Rom.  16:  17.  And  so  we  shall 
find  if  we  examine  the  Holy  Scriptures,  that  both 
prophets  and  apostles  were  prompt  and  vigilant,  in 
detecting  and  exposing,  as  well  as  in  exterm'inating 
every  thing  which  stood  at  variance  with  the  Lord's 
doctrines  and  testimonies,  whether  seen  in  kings, 
princes,  or  prophets,  (however  reprehensible  such 


214 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


detection  was  deemed  by  those  in  power,)  a  pro- 
cedure led  to  by  the  inspiration  and  commands  of 
God.  For  it  was  seen  tlien  as  it  in  some  degree  is 
seen  now,  that  human  nature  is  so  propense  to  ease, 
and  to  overlook  the  needful  restraints  of  true  reli- 
gion, that  a  guard  against  the  inlet  of  evil  was  con- 
tinually needful. 

But  one  of  our  Friends  said,  that  he  acknowledged 
the  doctrines  in  question  were  very  unsound,  but 
afterwards  said  he  thought  we  ought  to  give  a  pass 
to  their  Author.  But  truly  he  could  not  have  meant 
to  have  been  understood  to  say,  that  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ing ought  to  give  him  a  certihcate  of  unity,  for  in  so 
saying,  he  would  exhibit  an  opinion  different  from 
that  of  the  Apostle,  when  he  was  speaking  of  those 
who  brought  in  doctrines  contrary  to  the  doctrines 
of  Christ ;  for,  said  he,  "  He  that  biddeth  him  God 
speed,  is  a  partaker  of  his  deeds." 

2d  charge.  That  I  knew  the  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committee  were  unwilling  that  I  should  travel  in 
the  ministry,  therefore,  I  ought  not  to  have  gone  to 
Philadelphia.  To  which  1  need  to  say  no  more 
than  to  refer  to  thy  expression  to  a  friend — to  Thos. 
Rowland's  own  hand-writing,  and  to  J.  M.'s  to  me 
at  Dover  Quarterly  Meeting,  all  amounting  to  this, 
that  the  committee  had  no  desire  to  stop  my  going 
on  the  proposed  visit ;  besides  which,  I  had  never 
heard  from  them — how  then  could  R.  say  so  ? 

3d  charge.  That  they  understood  that  lhad  favor- 
ed the  idea  of  a  division  of  the  Yearly  Meeting, 
and  which  was  so  fully  answered  at  thy  daughter's, 
viz.:  That  no  one  among  us,  to  my  knowledge,  had 
labored  more  to  keep  Friends  in  New  England  to  the 
one  faith,  even  to  that  alone  which  would  keep  us 
together,  and  prevent  our  being  scattered ;  [show- 
ing] that  a  disagreement  in  principle  is  the  root  of 
schism. 

4th  charge.  That  I  have  companied  with  some 
young  men,  who  have  made  a  stand  against  the 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


215 


unsound  sentiments  of  J.  J.  Gurney,  and  to  which 
I  confess  judgment ;  and  that  I  have  also  companied 
with  some  who  are  not  young,  but  have  the  same 
opinions  of  the  same  man.  But  I  would  say,  that  I 
believe  these  with  whom  I  have  companied,  and 
who  have  taken  the  same  ground  would  not  suffer 
in  point  of  character  in  a  comparison  with  others. 

5th  charge.  That  I  suffered  T.  B.  G.  to  go  with 
me,  as  companion,  to  Philadelphia.  That  he  went 
in  company  with  me,  as  did  divers  other  Friends,  I 
acknowledge,  but  that  he  went  with  me  as  a  com- 
panion, in  the  way  that  this  phrase  is  understood  by 
Friends,  is  altogether  unfounded  ;  nor  did  he  pass 
for  such  at  any  place  where  we  were  ;  nor  G.  F. 
R.  neither,  though  he  lodged  with  me  every  night 
at  Philadelphia,  and  is  also  a  sound  Friend  :  nor  am 
I  ashamed  to  be  in  company  wath  either  of  them, 
although  neither  of  them  may  be  without  his  faults 
— nor  yet  myself— did  not  think  of  its  being  any 
disgrace  to  be  seen  w4th  them. 

6th  charge.  "  That  I  suffered  letters  and  extracts 
from  John  Barclay  and  Ann  Jones,  to  pass  through 
my  hands  to  others."  In  answer  to  this,  I  would  ask, 
whether  it  would  be  more  harm  to  quote  English 
authority  against  very  unsound  doctrines,  or  to  quote 
English  authority  in  defence  of  very  ujisound  doc- 
trines 1  And  I  would  ask  again,  whether  there  has 
not  been  a  great  deal  done  throughout  our  settle- 
ments in  America,  in  spreading  English  and  other 
letters  in  commendation  of  tliis  very  unsound  man  ? 
I  say  unsound  man,foY  he  yet  adheres  to  his  unsound 
doctrines.  Again,  whether  thy  colleagues  are  so 
much  dissatisfied,  and  do  find  as  much  fault  with 
letters  which  go  to  give  currency  to  the  Author  of 
these  very  sound  doctrines,  as  they  do  with  letters 
which  go  to  expose  and  detect  them  ? 

7th  charge.  "  That  I  said  to  N.  M.,  that  J.  J.  Gur- 
ney, would  not  dare  to  come  to  New  England." 
Now  we  know  the  difficulty  always  attending  that 


216 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


of  proving  a  negative : — but  I  will  say,  that  I  was 
at  M/s,  and  probably  said  something  in  relation  to 
the  man  ;  but  in  how  many  and  what  kind  of  words, 
I  cannot  now  recollect ;  however,  as  I  know  that  I 
never  had  the  least  expectation  of  our  escaping  a 
visit  from  him,  it  looks  so  altogether  unlikely  that  I 
used  that  form  of  words,  that  1  feel  safe  in  demur- 
ring to  the  charge,  however  little  or  nothing  could 
be  made  of  it,  if  I  had  so  spoken,  more  than  that  I 
was  mistaken. 

Now  if  we  take  all  these  accusations  into  view, 
my  dear  Thomas,  which  of  the  things  complained 
of,  would  not  be  effected  in  point  of  right  or  wrong, 
either  by  the  soundness  or  unsoundness  of  the  doc- 
trines of  J.  J.  Gurney  ?  When  you  say  that  I  have 
spoken  against  his  doctrines — that  I  have  written 
against  his  doctrines — that  I  have  suffered  to  pass 
through  my  hands,  letters  which  go  to  discourage 
the  imbibing  of  his  doctrines,  and  to  warn  of  the 
consequences  of  doing  so — that  I  have  companied 
with  others  who  protest  against  his  doctrines,  you 
say  truly,  and  yet  wonderful  it  is  to  hear  you  fur- 
ther say,  that  Jiis  unsoundness  of  doctrine  has  nothing 
to  do  with  my  defence  for  doing  so  ! ! !  And  as 
wonderful  that  pertinent  evidence  offered  in  defence 
of  the  rectitude  of  the  course  taken,  sufficient  to 
exculpate  from  blame,  thy  correspondent  should  be 
refused  ! !  !  I  say  sufficient,  because  the  refusal  of 
hearing  that  evidence,  probo  factum,  gives  to  me 
the  right  of  this  assumption. 

But  you  seem  inclined  to  resort  to  the  abstract 
doctrine,  that  a  certificate  from  a  corresponding 
body  or  Yearly  Meeting,  ought  to  defend  him 
against  all  charges  for  wrongs  done  previous  to  the 
date  of  that  document.  For  a  full  refutation  of 
which  position  I  refer  to  my  letter  to  John  Meader. 

But  inasmuch  as  some  continue  to  advance,  an 
abstract  proposition,  you  will  admit  an  abstract 
solution. 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


217 


In  the  civil  department  we  are  an  independent 
nation,  yet  are  on  good  corresponding  and  commer- 
cial terms  with  Great  Britain  :  and  let  us  suppose 
that  one  of  their  trading  vessels,  had  heretofore,  by- 
means  of  an  inclination  thereto,  and  a  strong  armory, 
made  many  captures,  and  had  committed  many 
wa'ongs  upon  the  rights  and  property  of  the  Amer- 
ican people. 

However,  in  process  of  time,  the  same  vessel, 
having  escaped  retribution,  obtains  regular  papers 
for  a  general  trading  voyage  to  our  land.  And 
now  I  would  enquire,  whether  it  would  be  any 
breach  of  good  faith  towards  Great  Britain,  civilly 
to  ask  the  commander  of  this  vessel  to  make  repar- 
ation for  the  wrongs  which  he  had  done  us  ?  Or 
whether  it  would  be  reprehensible  in  any  of  our 
citizens,  to  speak  of  the  wrongs  which  that  vessel 
had  committed  upon  us,  when  those  wrongs  were 
clearly  proveable  by  the  register  of  the  vessel,  and 
had  been  fearlessly  pubHshed  by  the  commander 
throughout  all  the  trading  companies  in  the  coun- 
try ?  Or  whether  it  be  a  breach  of  faith  for  our 
government  to  refuse  to  give  her  returning  papers, 
and  a  protection  upon  the  high  seas,  until  she  would 
make  reparation  for  the  w^rongs  which  she  had  done 
us  ?  And  inasmuch  as  worldly  property  and  civil 
rights  bear  no  proportion  to  religious  principles  and 
Christian  rights,  the  civil  department  could  not  pos- 
sibly sustain  an  equal  loss  by  means  of  the  strong- 
est ship  upon  the  high  seas,  as  would  be  incurred 
by  our  society  in  the  striking  out  of  even  but  two 
or  three  of  the  fundamental  and  distinguishing  arti- 
cles from  our  confession  of  faith,  as  apparently 
aimed  at  by  the  person  alluded  to.  But  let  us  stop 
a  moment,  and  enquire  whether  there  have  not  been 
some  depredations  committed  during  the  present 
visit. 

First,  he  justifies  his  former  wrongs  which  revives 
10 


218 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


and  restores  them  to  the  present  tense,  and  refuses 
to  make  the  least  concession  of  them. 

2nd.  And  further,  has  himself  been  spreading 
defective  books  since  his  arrival  in  America.  1 
saw  one  which  he  presented  to  a  friend,  with  a  note 
desiring  his  acceptance  of  it,  dated  Philadelphia, 
8th  month,  1837,  and  signed  with  his  own  hand — a 
book  recommending  a/orm  of  prayer,  and  that  of 
public  discoursing  upon  Christianity,  distinct  from 
the  ministry.  And  this  is  said  not  to  be  a  solitary 
instance.  And  besides  his  spreading  unsound  books 
since  his  arrival,  many  defective  ideas  of  doctrine 
have  escaped  him  in  the  Gallery ;  the  which  if  col- 
lected with  the  like  industry,  as  has  been  obvious  in 
some  other  instances,  the  catalogue  would  be  very 
considerable. 

Now,  my  dear  friend,  pause  for  a  moment,  and 
see ;  one  man  can  write,  and  preach,  and  spread, 
very  unsound  doctrines,  and  still  receive  the  warm 
support,  or  defence  of  both  ministers  and  elders 
among  us  ;  whilst  another,  who  is  afflicted  because 
of  the  jeopardy  which  awaits  our  society,  by  means 
of  the  spreading  of  these  unsound  sentiments,  and 
ventures  to  bear  witness  against  them,  is  consigned 
to  reproach  !  However,  this  case  is  not  entirely 
new ;  there  have  been  honest  friends  heretofore, 
and  undoubtedly,  better  than  thy  correspondent, 
greatly  reproached  and  defamed  for  withstanding 
unsound  doctrines,  and  even  disowned  ;  and  to  what 
extremity  this  may  come,  the  Lord  only  knows. 
But  there  is  one  thing  which  I  desire,  and  another 
which  I  lament.  The  former  is,  that  I  may  be 
reconciled  to  whatever  sufferings  may  be  permitted 
to  fall  to  my  lot,  in  the  discharge  of  duty,  and  my- 
self made  to  profit  by  it.  The  latter  is,  that  I  am 
not  more  worthy  to  suffer  for  the  truth,  and  for  its 
doctrines,  and  testimonies.  But  I  might  well  say, 
that  a  releasement  from  labor,  if  the  enjoyment  of 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


219 


peace  and  quietness  were  bestowed,  must  be  es- 
teemed a  great  favor. 

To  be  released  from  the  labors  and  dangers  of 
the  field,  and  yet  be  permitted  to  divide  the  spoil,  is 
a  privilege  of  God's  own  conferring.  That  pre- 
cious peace  and  quietness,  which  is  the  reward  of 
honest  labor  in  the  field,  is  nevertheless  the  fruit  of 
his  abundant  grace  :  how  much  more  then,  that 
which  fills  the  heart  with  peace  and  joy  in  its  pri- 
vate exercise  and  retirement  in  the  house  of  prayer, 
and  under  its  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  must  be  of 
unutterable  love. 

And,  however,  he  who  serveth  at  the  altar,  re- 
ceives his  portion  of  the  gift,  yet  if  God  be  pleased 
to  release,  from  the  service  for  a  time,  as  he  often 
did  our  first  friends  ;  and  though  it  were  by  means 
of  the  secular  power  ;  yet  it  undoubtedly  contribut- 
ed to  their  furtherance,  and  greater  depth  in  the 
power  of  the  cross  of  Christ — his  name  be  prai-sed  ! 
And  my  confidence  in  thee  is  such,  that  it  will  not 
be  periling  the  pearl  to  acknowledge  to  the  un- 
bounded grace  of  a  good  and  merciful  God,  through 
Christ  Jesus,  in  vouchsafing  to  his  weak^  and  un- 
worthy messenger  in  his  late  journies,  a  greater 
fullness  of  strength  and  understanding  in  speaking 
of  the  things  of  his  own  kingdom,  and  power,  and 
glory,  than  he  ever  saw  mete  to  bestow  before : 
and  my  enjoyment  subsequent  to  many  of  these 
seasons  was  inexpressible.  And  the  praise  and  the 
glory  was  and  is,  as  I  trust,  wholly  rendered  unto 
him,  for  I  clearly  saw  that  it  was  entirely  of  him 
and  to  him,  it  was  rendered,  in  language  both  utter- 
able  and  unutterable.  And  it  has  been,  and  remains 
to  be,  to  me  an  evidence,  not  to  be  despised,  that 
my  good  God  has  owned  and  does  own  my  sincer- 
ity in  bearing  a  faithful  testimony  against  "  every 
appearance  of  evil,"  and  innovation,  upon  our 
inestimable  testimonies,  both  in  the  times  of  our 


220 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


former,*  and  our  present  troubles  and  dangers, 
And  that  it  is  his  will  that  I  should  do  so,  does 
not  rest  [wholly]  upon  his  unmerited  favors  abroad, 
(as  evidence)  but  peace  and  quietness  have  suc- 
ceeded to  the  fulfillment  of  apprehended  duty  in 
that  respect  at  home. 

Nor  was  I  ever  more  clearly  instructed,  than  in 
these  late  journies,  in  relation  to  the  opening  and 
shutting  of  the  fresh  springs  of  the  Gospel  ministry. 
In  one  large  public  Quarterly  Meeting,  and  in 
several  other  large  meetings,  the  ministry  was  to 
me  "  as  a  spring  shut  up  and  a  fountain  sealed," 
and  for  which  I  could  assign  no  other  reason,  than 
that  the  good  master  would  have  it  so.  But  in  the 
same  Quarterly  Meeting  for  business,  which  was 
held  the  next  day,  a  very  unusaal  flow  of  the  Gos- 
pel Hfe  and  power  (for  me)  was  witnessed  in  both 
the  men's  and  women's  meeting. 

The  two  or  three  exceptionable  doctrines  of  J.  J. 
Gurney,  alluded  to  above,  might  be  selected  from 
the  many,  under  the  following  heads  : 

1st.  That  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  is  not  in  itself  the 
power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

2nd.  That  men  are  justified  by  faith  without  re- 
gard to  obedience. 

3rd.  That  was  the  true  light  which  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world,  he  construes  to 
mean  no  more  than  Christ  incarnate,  "  the  enlight- 
ener."  Let  all  imbibe  these  three  items  of  doctrine 
and  Quakerism  would  be  no  more. 

Having  a  little  room  yet  left  upon  this  sheet,  I 
will  occupy  it  with  a  few  extracts  from  a  piece  in 
my  possession  on  Church  order,  as  followeth : 

"  It  would  appear  to  be  at  variance  with  the  very 
nature  of  things,  as  well  as  the  right  order  of  Church 
government,  and  the  spirit  of  Christian  discipline, 


Hicksite  troubles. 


LETTER  TO  T.  A. 


221 


to  suppose  that  a  person  can  place  himself,  or  that 
others  can  place  him  under  such  circumstances,  as 
that  he  cannot  be  reprehended  for  a  breach  of  faith 
in  the  promulgation  of  sentiments,  perversive  of  the 
estabhshed  and  fundamental  doctrines  of  a  religious 
society  to  v^hich  he  belongs. 

"  If  a  way  has  been  found  in  which  a  person  can 
be  securely  sheltered  and  protected,  under  an  obvi- 
ous and  public  violation  of  the  doctrines  of  his  own 
Society,  (without  concessions)  then,  indeed,  it  would 
seem  that  innovation  upon  its  principles  may  be 
considered  inevitable,  and  without  a  remedy. 

"  And  if  a  religious  body  has  no  alternative,  but 
to  unite  with  and  to  give  currency  to  the  religious 
and  official  standing  of  such  person,  then  would  it 
be  in  vain  to  hope  for  the  preservation  ol  the  purest 
system  of  Christianity,  or  the  best  confessions  of 
faith. 

"  But  the  truth  itself,  it  is  presumed,  has  never 
placed  a  man  in  such  a  condition  that  his  misgivings, 
whether  doctrinal  or  practical,  could  not  be  rightly 
recognized  and  reprobated,  so  long  as  they  remain 
unretracted. 

"  Hence,  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  any  body, 
acting  in  conformity  to  the  truth,  should  be  under- 
stood intentionally  to  approve,  or  give  currency  to 
doctrines  which  are  at  variance  with  the  truth ;  nor 
that  any  rightly  qualified  person  can  be  reprehensi- 
ble for  detecting  wrongs  which  have  been  inflicted 
upon  the  truth,  and  its  principles,  and  doctrines,  as 
exemplified  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  from  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  ;  nor  do  we  find  in  those  sacred 
records,  that  the  names  of  those  who  had  commit- 
ted depredations  upon  the  truth,  are  spared. 

"  By  the  exercise  and  dictates  of  truth's  princi- 
ples, it  was  that  good  order  and  wholesome  regula- 
tions were  originally  instituted  and  established  in 
the  society  of  Friends,  for  the  protection  and  secur- 
ity of  its  doctrines,  as  well  as  for  the  support  of  its 


222 


DEFENCE  OF  LETTER. 


moral  economy :  hence  it  is  not  to  be  believed,  that 
a  wise  and  discreet  exercise  of  that  order,  can  ever 
lead  to  the  strengthening  or  upholding  of  error,  or 
the  justification  of  v^rongs  committed  against  the 
author  of  that  order ^  to  wit :  the  principle  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

"  Therefore  any  proceedings  under  a  profession 
of  sustaining  that  order,  if  their  tendency  is  to 
strengthen  the  wrongs  done  to  that  principle  which 
brought  all  good  order  into  existence  ;  then  such 
proceedings,  so  far  from  being  the  right  support  of 
good  order ^  are  but  the  abuse  of  order,  and  can  be 
accounted  of  no  better  than  an  attempt  to  support 
order  at  the  expense  of  Principle,  the  parent  of 
order. 

"  I  am  thy  Friend,  &c." 

A  short  time  previous  to  an  interview  with  the 
committee,  (to  whom  the  foregoing  letter  was  ad- 
dressed,) in  the  8th  month,  1840,  the  receiver  of  it 
took  him  aside  and  repeated  or  read  to  him  the  fol- 
lowing sentences,  which  he  said  he  had  endorsed  on 
that  letter ;  but  before  that  interview  terminated, 
the  same  Friend  acknowledged  that  he  did  not  think 
John  Wilbur  meant  to  write  anything  in  that  letter 
which  was  not  true. 

The  endorsement,  he  believes  was  this,  "  I  feel  it 
incumbent  upon  me  to  say,  that  the  premises  taken 
in  this  letter  are  false,  and  therefore  the  conclusions 
are  false  and  unsound."  T.  A. 

DEFENCE   OF  LETTER. 

The  following  extracts  from  passages  in  the  fore- 
going letter  have  been  referred  to  by  the  complain- 
ants, as  objectionable  ;  and  are  the  same  designated 
by  their  pencil  marks  thereon,  and  testified  by  them- 
selves to  be  untrue  :  referred  to  in  the  complaint  as 
*'  being  not  true  in  point  of  fact,  and  as  containing 
unjust  insinuations.^^ 


EXTRACTS. 


223 


But  on  the  several  trials  of  the  case  before  com- 
mittees, they  have  not  proved  those  assertions  other- 
wise than  by  themselves — by  a  ]-eiteration  of  the 
same  assertions  :  and  when  the  following  defence 
of  those  passages  has  been  read  to  the  committees, 
the  respondents  have  never  replied  thereto. 

EXTRACTS. 

1st.  "  But  if  these  baneful  doctrines,  or  their  un- 
relenting author,  (which  is  the  same  thing)  are  con- 
tinued to  be  advocated  and  defended,  w^e  have  rea- 
son to  fear  that  serious  difficulties  will  arise." 

2d.  "  And  by  endeavoring  to  put  down  those  who 
honestly  withstand  his  sentiments." 

3d.  "  I  will  now  remark  upon  the  charges  brought 
against  me ;  and  however  so  trivial  as  some  of  them 
are,  and  so  unreasonable  as  others  appear  to  me  ; 
yet  as  they  have  been  deemed  by  ministers  and 
elders  to  be  worth  naming,  they  will  be  recognized 
here  by  way  of  defence  and  apology  for  the  course 
I  have  taken :  first,  that  I  had  frequently  in  conver- 
sation and  in  writing  reprobated  some  of  the  doc- 
trines of  J.  J.  Gurney,  and  even  on  some  occasions 
have  spoken  against  them  when  abroad  in  the  min- 
istry." 

4th.  "  But  one  of  our  Friends  said,  he  acknow- 
ledged that  the  doctrines  in  question  were  very  un- 
sound ;  but  afterwards  said  he  thought  we  ought  to 
give  a  pass  to  their  author." 

5th.  "  That  they  understood  that  I  had  favored 
the  idea  of  a  separation." 

6th.  "  That  I  had  companied  with  some  young 
men,  who  have  made  a  stand  against  the  unsound 
doctrines  of  J.  J.  Gumey." 

7th.  "  When  you  say  that  I  have  spoken  against 
his  doctrines — that  I  have  written  against  his  doc- 
trines— that  I  have  suffered  to  pass  through  my 


224 


EXTRACTS. 


hands,  letters  which  go  to  discourage  the  imbibing 
of  his  doctrines,  and  to  warn  of  the  consequences 
of  doing  so — that  I  have  companied  with  others 
who  protest  against  his  doctrines — you  say  truly, 
and  yet  wonderful  it  is  to  hear  you  further  say,  that 
his  unsoundness  of  doctrines  has  nothing  to  do  with 
my  defence  ! !" 

8th.  "  One  man  can  write,  and  preach,  and  spread 
very  unsound  doctrines,  and  still  receive  the  warm 
support  or  defence  of  both  ministers  and  elders 
among  us,  whilst  another  who  is  afflicted  because  of 
the  jeopardy  which  awaits  our  society,  by  means  of 
the  spreading  of  those  unsound  sentiments,  and 
ventures  to  bear  witness  against  them,  is  consigned 
to  reproach." 

These  extracts  are  considered  as  follows : 

1.  Baneful  doctrines.  They  are  thought  to  be 
so,  because  directly  at  variance  with  Quakerism  ; 
and  divers  of  them  contradictory  to  our  fundamen- 
tal principles.  And  being  written  by  a  member  of 
our  Society,  held  in  high  estimation  by  many ;  are 
therefore  liable  to  lead  away  our  members  unawares 
from  the  true  faith.  And  if  our  faith  leads  to  life 
and  salvation,  that  which  goes  to  destroy  it,  must 
be  of  a  baneful  tendency. 

Unrelenting  Author.  To  support  the  justness  of 
this  expression,  we  have  no  real  necessity  of  doing 
more  than  to  refer  to  his  own,  yet  unretracted  ex- 
pressions on  the  third  page  of  his  *'  Brief  Remarks," 
to  wit :  "  That  a  few  conventional  misinterpreta- 
tions have  arisen,  [among  Friends,]  and  that  he  has 
a  conviction  that  the  sooner  such  errors  are  rectifi- 
ed the  better  ;  that  he  beheves  these  mistakes  are 
often  found  to  spread  their  influence  to  a  great 
extent ;  and  that  they  are  stepping-stones  by  which 
many  persons  may  be,  in  no  small  degree,  assisted 
in  an  actual  descent  into  Heresy These  errors. 


EXTRACTS. 


225 


he  describes,  as  being  conventional  or  stipulated 
interpretations  ;  not  merely  as  a  slip  of  the  pen  or 
tongue  of  individuals  ;  and  that  they  remained  un- 
corrected errors  at  the  time  of  this  publication,  viz., 
1836.  And  he  clears  none  of  our  writers  from  this 
impeachment  of  error,  either  ancient  or  modern : 
but  further  on,  seems  to  cast  the  like  imputations 
upon  Barclay,  Penn,  and  Penington,  as  he  there 
plainly  declares  that  all  these  authors  have  their 
defects  as  well  as  their  excellencies ;  and  that  he 
should  not  describe  Quakerism  as  the  system  so 
elaborately  wrought  out  by  a  Barclay,  or  as  the 
doctrines  and  maxims  of  a  Penn,  or  as  the  deep  and 
refined  views  of  a  Penington  ;  charging  their  Qua- 
kerism with  being  defective,  and  not  of  an  approved 
description  ;  and  by  his  mode  of  expression,  denies 
their  Quakerism  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  New 
Testament. 

He  thus  implicates  our  early  writers  as  being  ac- 
cessory to  heresy,  and  in  a  former  passage  makes 
them  chargeable  with  Hicksism  :  and  thus  not  only 
betrays  unjust  but  unrelenting  feelings  towards 
those  dignified  servants  of  Christ.  To  say  nothing 
of  his  vanity,  in  supposing  he  understands  Quaker- 
ism better  than  the  founders  of  it,  I  would  observe 
that  his  use  of  the  word  "  conventional"  makes  the 
whole  Society  accountable  as  having  stipulated  the 
errors  alkided  to. 

Which  is  the  same  thing.  To  advocate  a  noted 
public  doctrinal  character,  whose  views  are  well 
known,  whether  he  be  a  Christian  or  an  infidel,  is, 
in  the  common  understanding  of  things,  to  advocate 
and  defend  his  opinions.  He  that  advocated  and 
defended  the  early  Friends,  identified  himself  in 
their  opinions,  and  he  that  advocated  and  defended 
Hannah  Barnard  and  Elias  Hicks,  did,  in  the  eyes 
of  mankind,  identify  himself  in  their  opinions : 
which  opinions,  very  few  if  any  of  their  advocates, 
at  the  time,  escaped. 

10* 


226 


EXTRACTS. 


But  the  expressions,  "  Advocated  ?nd  defended  " 
were  not  intended  to  apply  to  one  set  of  men  more 
than  another,  but  only  to  those  who  do  advocate 
and  defend  J.  J.  G.  and  his  doctrines,  or  any  other 
unsound  writer. 

2.  And  hy  endeavoring  to  put  down,  <^c.  This 
sentence  alluded  to  the  injunction  laid  by  the  com- 
mittee upon  the  writer  of  the  letter,  viz.,  to  stay 
at  home  and  to  be  quiet,  which  injunction  was  re- 
sponded to  by  every  member  of  the  committee 
present  except  Andrew  Nichols ;  and  if  the  meaning 
was  not  designed  to  tally  with  the  expressions,  he 
is  willing  the  committee  should  explain  and  inter- 
pret their  own  words. 

3.  Trivial  and  unreasonable.  The  multiplicity 
of  the  charges  evince  a  disposition  in  the  committee 
to  pick  up  and  to  bring  forward  all  that  could  be 
made  to  look  like  a  fault,  (by  a  good  deal  of  shaping) 
against  him.  But  it  will  be  allowed,  that  if  it  be  so, 
that  J.  J.  G.  is  sound  in  the  Quaker's  faith,  then 
truly  there  would  have  been  some  importance  in 
one  or  two  charges  which  they  preferred  against 
him  at  our  first  interviews,  (and  this  is  not  denied 
in  the  letter,)  whilst  the  rest  would  have  been  of 
Httle  importance,  if  not  very  trifling. 

But  inasmuch  as  such  premises  were  wanting, 
the  most  considerable  of  those  charges  were  alto- 
gether uncalled  for  if  not  groundless,  and  the  rest 
either  trivial  or  unreasonable.  And  seeing  the 
writer  of  that  letter  did  therein  spare  them,  by 
omitting  some  of  the  most  minute  charges  which 
they  brought  against  him  in  that  company  of  minis- 
ters and  elders,  he  thinks  they  might  have  been 
satisfied  on  that  score. 

But  now,  on  account  of  those  objections,  he  seems 
obliged  to  bring  forward  a  specimen.  One  of  those 
trivial  charges  which  he  omitted  (through  deference 
to  their  standing,)  to  introduce  in  his  letter  to  them, 


EXTRACTS. 


227 


was  this,  they  accused  him  of  sleeping  with  a  young 
man  in  New  York  on  his  way  to  Philadelphia,  to 
which  he  confessed  guilty,  if  guilt  be  attached  to 
such  a  deed,  but  it  was  by  the  desire  of  the  woman 
Friend,  of  high  respectability,  who  owned  the  bed, 
and  for  the  reason  that  she  could  not  then  so  con- 
veniently furnish  another ;  and  never  having  refused 
in  case  of  necessity,  and  the  young  Friend  being  as 
worthy  of  my  company  as  I  was  of  his,  we  did  in 
truth,  both  lodge  in  the  same  bed  at  the  same  time ! 

And  truly  he  did  think  this  was  making  a  great 
deal  out  of  a  little,  for  so  grave  a  company.  Another 
charge  was,  (and  unreasonable  because  it  was  not 
true,)  that  he  had  written  to  a  Friend  at  Scipio, 
conveying  (as  they  said)  a  long  list  of  extracts  from 
Gurney's  doctrines,  and  seemed  greatly  disposed  to 
make  a  crime  of  both — the  writing  to  that  Friend 
and  the  sending  of  extracts.  But  he  had  never 
written  to  that  Friend  any  thing  at  all,  however 
fair  his  standing  was  ;  still  they  insisted  that  he  had, 
and  disputed  him  in  a  manner  not  very  polite  nor 
very  civil :  and  altogether,  he  thought  the  charge, 
being  untrue,  was  unreasonable. 

That  he  had  frequently,  in  conversation  and  in 
writing,  reprobated  some  of  the  doctrines  of  J.  J. 
Gurney,  and  even  on  some  occasions  when  abroad 
in  the  ministry. 

They  say  that  this  statement  is  incorrect,  because 
their  complaint  against  him  was  for  speaking  and 
writing  against  J.  J.  G.,  but  not  for  speaking  and 
writing  against  his  doctrines.  A  distinction,  (as 
nice  as  it  is,)  which  J.  W.  admits  was  attempted, 
after  he  proposed  to  prove  the  good  cause  which 
he  had,  for  the  course  he  had  taken,  by  reading  ex- 
tracts from  his  doctrines,  but  not  before.  They  had 
previously  accused  him  of  "  spreading  long  lists  of 
extracts'^  from  his  writings  through  the  medium  of 
letters  to  divers  Friends,  &c.,  which  letters  he  wil- 
lingly refers  to,  to  decide  the  question  in  controver- 


228 


EXTRACTS. 


sy,  whether  it  was  the  person  or  his  doctrine  that 
was  spoken  of  to  others. 

These  letters,  (see  Appendix,)  being  matter  of 
record,  are  the  evidence  which  the  nature  of  the 
case  calls  for,  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  things  com- 
plained of,  whether  it  is  for  speaking  against  the 
man  or  his  doctrines. 

The  letters  themselves  were  emphatically  charg- 
ed upon  him  as  subjects  of  complaint,  and  happily 
they  are  in  being  and  will  decide  the  question. 

That  the  writer  did  ever  speak  to  the  disadvan- 
tage of  J.  J.  G.,  distinct  from  his  doctrines,  and 
distinct  from  the  right  to  dissent  from  them,  yet  re- 
mains to  be  proved.  So  that  if  the  committee  will 
relinquish  their  complaint  against  the  liberty  he  has 
taken  in  dissenting  from  some  of  those  doctrines, 
and  the  right  of  doing  so,  then  they  liberate  him 
from  their  complaint  of  every  thing  relative  to  J. 
J.  G.,  which  took  place  previous  to  their  interview 
with  him  at  Greenwich.  And  so  he  feels  willing 
they  should  be  at  liberty  to  insist  on  the  distinction, 
or  not,  as  they  think  best,  inasmuch  as  his  language 
now  under  consideration,  correctly  defines  and  ap- 
plies to  facts  which  previously  transpired  ;  that  is  to 
say,  the  doctrine,  (though  not  distinct  from  the 
man,)  yet  not  of  the  man  distinct  from  the  doc- 
trines. 

4th. — Very  unsound.  At  the  first  interview  with 
the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  at  Greenwich, 
when  they  had  accused  J.  W.  of  speaking  and 
writing  against  J.  J.  G.,  or  more  truly  against  his 
doctrines,  he  proposed  reading  some  extracts  from 
his  works,  to  show  that  his  views  were  unsound, 
and  that  himself  therefore  had  good  reason  for 
speaking  and  writing.  To  this  reading  of  extracts 
they  objected,  and  said, there  may  possibly  be  some 
expressions  in  his  writings  which  might  be  deemed 
objectionable  ;  and  in  reply  to  which  he  said,  "  but 
I  want  to  show  you  ham  unsound  his  doctrines  are," 


EXTRACTS. 


229 


when  D.  B — m  replied,  (apparently  to  obviate  the 
reading,)  "I  acknowledge  that  some  of  his  doc- 
trines are  very  unsound.'^  J.  jNI.,  (then  sitting  be- 
tween J.  W.  and  D.  B — m.)  gave  the  latter  a  jog, 
and  in  another  low  tone  of  voice  said,  "  /  should 
not  have  said  so."  These  expressions  of  D.  B — m 
being  recognized  in  this  letter,  written  a  few  days 
afterwards,  were  denied  by  him  at  our  next  meet- 
ing at  Newport,  and  several  others  of  the  committee 
endorsed  that  denial.  Here  follows  G.  C.  Kenyon's 
testimony : 

"East  Greenwich,  10th  month  9th,  1842. 
I  hereby  certify  that  I  was  in  company  with  T. 
A.,  a  few  days  after  the  inten'iew  of  the  Select  Quar- 
terly Meeting's  Committee  with  John  Wilbur,  at  this 
place,  in  the  5th  month,  1840,  and  he  said  to  me  that 
D.  B.  did  acknowledge,  during  that  interview,  that 
some  of  the  writings,  or  doctrines  of  Joseph  John  Gur- 
ney  were  unsound. 

George  C.  Kenyon." 

Now,  at  Newport,  D.  B.  said,  J.  W.  is  an  old 
man  and  very  forgetful,  inasmuch  as  I  did  not  say 
any  such  thing.  And  at  a  meeting  at  Portsmouth, 
shortly  afterwards,  the  subject  so  rested  on  D.'s 
mind  that  he  revived  it  himself,  and  explained  him- 
self to  have  spoken  at  Greenwich  on  this  wise,  viz : 
"  For  argument's  sake,  I  will  admit  that  some  of  the 
doctrines  of  J.  J.  G.  are  very  unsound.''  And  to 
this  version  of  it  J.  M.  responded  and  said,  "  that 
he  recollected  that  this  was  the  way  in  which  D. 
expressed  himself"  Why  then,  said  J.  W.,  did 
thou  jog  D.  at  the  time  and  say,  "  I  should  not  have 
said  so  ?"  To  which  enquiry  J.  M.  made  no  an- 
swer !  Andrew  Nichols  was  then  called  upon  to 
inform  what  D.  B.  did  say  at  Greenwich  ;  and  tes- 
tified unreservedly  that  D.'s  expressions  at  Green- 
wich were  the  same  as  inserted  in  the  letter, — that 
the  clause,  "for  argument's  sake,"  which  D.  had 


230 


EXTRACTS. 


now  prefixed  to  it,  were  not  prefixed  to  it  in  the 
first  place.    The  subject  was  then  left. 

In  the  fifth  month  following,  at  Greenwich,  the 
Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  brought  against  J.  W. 
on  behalf  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  an 
objection  to  the  same  expression  in  the  letter,  as 
being  untrue,  but  no  mention  was  then  made  of  the 
prelude,  "  for  argument's  sake."  And  now  again 
the  same  Friend,  Andrew  Nichols,  so  well  known 
for  truth  and  veracity,  and  who  had  testified  so 
clearly  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  was 
desired  to  state  to  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
what  words  he  heard  D.  B.  express  a  year  ago  be- 
fore the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  touching 
the  point  in  question  ?  He  then  stated,  in  the  same 
clear  and  unequivocal  manner  as  before,  that  D.'s 
words  were  these,  to  wit:  " I  acknowledge  that 
some  of  the  doctrines  of  J.  J.  G.  are  very  unsound" 
This  objection  was  then  immediately  abandoned. 
But  subsequently,  after  some  years  had  elapsed, 
three  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  'Committee,  (if  he 
rightly  remember  the  number)  have  been  so  adven- 
turous, and  so  regardless  of  a  scrupulous  care,  as 
relates  to  moral,  not  to  say  religious  integrity  or  ve- 
racity, as  to  come  forward  and  positively  to  say, 
that  J.  W.'s  assertion  of  the  words  very  unsound" 
was  untrue  /*  By  which  avowal  they  also  condemn 
Geo.  C.  Kenyon  and  Andrew  Nichols'  affirmative 
testimonies.  Had  those  three  negative  witnesses 
stated,  as  all  careful,  conscientious  persons  ought  to 
do,  if  so,  that  they  did  not  recollect  or  notice  such 
expressions  at  the  time,  they  would  have  done 


*  D.  B.  was  invited  to  state  the  conversation  before  the  Commit- 
tee of  Appeal  at  Yearly  Meeting.  But  appeared  to  have  lost  his 
recollection  almost  entirely  about  it, — said  he  had  kept  no  record  of 
it  at  any  time — ratlier  thought  he  might  say,  in  the  first  place  at 
Greenwich,  that  it  was  probable  some  would  say  that  J.  J.  Gumey's 
doctrines  were  very  unsound — could  not  remember  of  saying  any 
thing  about  the  subject  at  Newport  or  Portsmouth. 


EXTRACTS. 


231 


more  honor  to  themselves  and  to  their  cause,  and 
would  have  obtained  more  credence  from  others. 

5th. — That  they  understood  he  had  said,  there 
would  he  a  separation  in  the  Society.  Such  was 
one  of  the  many  accusations  brought  against  him  at 
the  first  interview,  and  words  to  that  import,  amidst 
his  fears  of  the  consequences  of  the  sentiments 
abroad  among  us,  have  undoubtedly  escaped  him, 
but  upon  no  other  consideration  than  the  apprehen- 
sion of  a  palpable  departure  from  our  doctrines  or 
discipline. 

Schisms  have  heretofore  been  occasioned  by  the 
promulgation  of  unsound  sentiments,  and  by  the 
support  which  has  been  given  to  the  authors  of  those 
sentiments.  And  if  the  like  should  occur  again,  the 
responsibility  must  rest,  as  it  ever  has  done,  upon 
the  heads  of  those  who  have  denied  the  faith  of  our 
fathers,  and  upon  the  heads  of  those  who  have  sup- 
poi'ted  and  defended  such,  to  the  abuse  of  the  disci- 
pline and  good  order  of  the  Society. 

Within  the  ranks  of  this  very  committee,  who  have 
been  seeking  to  make  the  intimation  of  a  separation, 
a  crime  in  John  Wilbur,  there  is  to  be  found,  at 
least  one,  who  has,  on  several  occasions,  and  in  re- 
ligious meetings  too,  spoken  in  strong  terms  of  a 
sitting  time  and  separation  to  be  looked  for  in  this 
Society,  and  this  since  the  Hicksite  schism. 

Those  whose  living  concern  is,  for  sustaining  our 
primitive  doctrines  and  testimonies,  could  have  no 
greater  joy  than  to  see  the  whole  number  disposed 
to  refuse  and  reject  all  other  doctrines  and  opinions, 
with  the  holders  of  them  ;  and  unreservedly  to  hold 
fast  those  which  can  only  stand  in  the  one  spirit ; 
and  therein  to  abide  ;  and  then  there  would  be  no 
rents  or  divisions  among  us  ;  and  in  this  oneness 
would  be  their  rejoicing. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  as  painful  as  the  consid- 
eration is,  those  who  are  disposed  to  lean  towards  a 
relaxation  from  first  principles;  and  to  walk  with 


232 


EXTRACTS. 


and  to  support  those  who  are  inclined  to  let  down 
primitive  Quakerism,  and  to  make  the  way  more 
easy  to  flesh  and  blood ;  these  would  fain  have  the 
whole  body  go  with  them^ — would  encompass  all 
without  exception — are  not  willing  there  should  be 
any  testimony  bearers  left  to  witness  against  them, 
or  to  awaken  any  trouble  or  guilt  in  their  con- 
sciences. 

6th. — That  he  has  companied  with  some  young 
men  who  have  made  a  stand  against  the  unsound 
views  of  J.  J,  Gurney.  The  writer  of  the  letter 
understands  that  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  commit- 
tee in  relation  to  this  passage,  consists  in  the  manner 
of  designating  the  persons  alluded  to,  but  not  in  the 
identity  of  them.  It  is  true  that  his  manner  of  de- 
signation was  different  from  theirs,  yet  plainly  dis- 
tinctive of  those  alluded  to.  They  call  them,  if  his 
memory  serves,  as  he  supposes  they  have  called 
him,  "  opposers  of  good  order,"  or,  "  the  order-  of 
Society,"  whilst  he  alludes  to  them  as  those  who 
have  made  a  stand  against  the  doctrines  of^^J.  J. 
Gurney — that  they  have  made  such  stand  no  one 
will  deny,  and  that  the  making  of  that  stand  has 
drawn  down  this  reproach  upon  them  is  equally 
true.  Nor  can  the  author  of  the  letter,  on  that  ac- 
count, be  readily  made  to  call  them  disorganizers  ; 
for  our  rules  require  such  a  stand. 

7th. — When  you  say  that  I  have  spoken  against 
his  doctrines,  <^c.  This  passage  recapitulates  the 
principal  heads  of  the  charges  noticed  in  the  letter, 
and  recognizes  the  substance  of  the  writer's  pro- 
ceedings most  complained  of  by  the  committee  in 
language  applicable  to  the  state  of  the  case.  The 
description  of  the  letters  referred  to,  from  John 
Barclay  and  Ann  Jones,  being  in  his  own  language, 
as  they  were  not  described  by  the  committee,  as  he 
recollects  ;  and  for  the  correctness  of  that  descrip- 
tion the  letters  themselves  are  appealed  to,  and  if 
desired  will  be  produced. 


EXTRACTS. 


233 


And  here  he  would  ask,  what  it  was  for,  that  the 
committee  in  the  first  place  arrested  and  reprehend- 
ed the  writer  of  that  letter,  and  essayed  to  lay  a 
prohibition  upon  him  ?  Was  it  for  speaking  against 
J.  J.  G.,  distinct  from  his  doctrines  ?  No — certainly 
it  was  not ;  for  they  had  never  any  evidence  of  his 
doing  so,  nor  claimed  any  ;  for  when  impressively 
importuned  to  advance  evidence  of  such  expres- 
sion, if  known  to  them,  they  have  not  at  any  time 
made  such  attempt.  But  nevertheless,  when  they 
say  in  an  unqualified  manner,  that  he  has  spoken 
and  written  against  J.  J.  G.,  he  does  not  charge 
them  with  being  incorrect,  because  then  he  under- 
stands the  manner  of  expression  to  refer  to  J.  J. 
Gurney's  whole  pubhc  character,  including  the 
person  with  his  sentiments.  But  if  his  sentiments 
are  not  included,  then  their  complaint  is  without 
foundation,  and  the  writer's  impeachment  at  an  end. 

Hence  it  did  seem  wonderful  to  him  that  the 
committee  could  say  that  the  unsoundness  of  J.  J. 
Gurney's  doctrines  had  nothing  to  do  with  J.  W.'s 
defence,  and  should  refuse  the  introduction  of  them, 
as  offered  for  showing  his  duty,  in  the  course  he 
had  taken. 

But  the  complaint  of  the  committee  against  him 
was,  for  saying  something — for  saying  what? 
Something  either  in  favor  of  or  against  a  Friend. 
There  has  been  much  said  by  most  Friends  concern- 
ing him.  But  to  ascertain  whether  for  or  against, 
the  words  spoken  must  be  adduced,  and  no  judg- 
ment in  a  court  of  judicature  for  defamation,  with- 
out the  identical  words,  either  proved  by  the  plain- 
tiff or  acknowledged  by  the  defendant,  can  be  ren- 
dered. 

But  when  the  defendant  acknowledges  the  words 
charged  upon  him,  and  oflfers  sufficient  evidence  to 
prove  that  he  had  good  cause  for  saying  the  things 
complained  of,  and  that  they  were  known  by  a  great 
number  of  credible  men  to  be  true,  and  that  the  di- 


234 


EXTRACTS. 


vulging  of  them  was  needful  for  the  safety  of  the 
community.  Then,  if  the  court  refuse  to  hear  that 
evidence,  and  proceed  to  render  judgment  against 
him,  should  we  not  suppose  that  refusal  to  be  un- 
just, and  the  judgment  rendered,  cruel  and  arbi- 
trary, and  subject  to  a  reversal. 

8.  One  man  can  write,  and  spread  and  preach 
very  unsound  doctrines,  <^c.  This  passage  was 
marked  as  objectionable,  and  so  testified  against ; 
but  whether  the  expression  of  unsound  doctrine,  al- 
luded to,  or  whether  the  expression  of  warm  sup- 
port and  defence  by  ministers  and  elders  in  our  So- 
ciety, or  both,  is  the  cause  of  uneasiness,  the  writer 
did  not  understand.  That  the  person  alluded  to 
has  promulgated  doctrines  very  much  at  variance 
with  Quakerism  is  easily  proved,  and  was  offered 
to  be  proved  to  the  committee,  but  they  had  not 
ears  to  hear  it.  And  that  he  has  been  warmly  sup- 
ported and  defended  by  ministers  and  elders  in 
many  places  in  our  Society,  is  too  well  known  to 
require  a  proof.'*  That  the  writer  of  the  letter  un- 
der consideration  (and  as  he  thinks,  because  he  has 
borne  witness  against  those  doctrines)  has  been  made 
a  subject  of  censure  and  reproach,  is  undeniable. 

And  in  conclusion,  and  by  way  of  explanation  of 
one  point  in  question,  the  writer  will  say,  that  in  the 
composition  of  his  letter  to  the  committee,  he  had 
no  intention  of  charging  them  with  unsound  doctrine, 
nor  yet  to  have  recognized  their  having  committed 
themselves  in  any  religious  sentiments  more  excep- 
tionable than  those  of  Joseph  John  Gurney,  and  to 
which  it  appears,  by  the  foregoing  record  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Quarterly  and  Yearly  Meeting's 
Committees,  who  met  at  Greenwich  5th  month,  4, 


*  R.  G.  did,  before  the  committee  at  Greenwich,  on  the  4th  day 
morning,  5th  mouth  5, 1841,  warmly  support  and  defend  the  charac- 
ter of  J.  J.  Gurney,  and  unsparingly  placed  high  enconiums  upon 
him. 


REASONS,  ETC. 


235 


1841,  that  they  were  ready  to  respond,  and  did  re- 
spond to  the  doctrines  in  question  at  that  time. 

REASONS 

Why  J.  W.  wrote  the  letter  to  T.  A.  as  one  of 
the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  why  it 
ought  not  to  be  destroyed  as  desired. 

1st.  He  wrote  it  because  the  committee  gave  him 
occasion  for  it  by  bringing  charges  against  him  for 
things  which  were  not  reprehensible,  and  because 
they  refused  to  hear  good  and  essential  reasons  in 
defence  and  vindication  thereof,  a  resort  to  pen  and 
paper  was  necessary  to  show  his  reasons  for  the 
course  he  had  taken,  and  to  clear  himself  from  un- 
just imputations  which  they  had  cast  upon  him. 

2d.  Because  they  reprehended  him  for  making  a 
stand  against  J.  J.  Gurney,  or  more  truly  against 
his  doctrines,  and  which  doctrines  being  perversive 
of  Quakerism,  his  loyalty  to  the  cause  demanded  a 
defence  of  that  cause  in  exposing  those  doctrines,  as 
well  as  for  the  defence  of  oar  principles.  And, 
moreover,  the  very  circumstance  of  a  committee 
from  a  Quarterly  Meeting  of  ministers  and  elders 
so  coming  out  in  defence  of  a  man  of  such  doctrine 
as  to  arrest  a  friend  in  so  formidable  a  manner  for 
exposing  such  doctrines,  did,  in  the  apprehension  of 
the  writer  of  the  letter  in  question,  call  for  a  suita- 
ble examination  of  the  subject  for  the  Committee's 
consideration. 

3d.  Because,  as  he  conceives,  the  committee  had 
no  authority,  by  virtue  of  their  appointment,  or 
by  virtue  of  the  Discipline,  order  and  usage  of  the 
Society  to  arrest  him,  and  to  pursue  such  measures 
with  him  as  they  did  at  Greenwich  5th  month,  1840, 
gratuitous  and  uncalled  for.  Hence,  for  one  in  the 
station  of  a  minister,  bound  by  his  calling  to  the 
Law  and  to  the  Testimony,  silently  to  submit  to 
such  attempts  to  deprive  him,  or  the  Monthly  Meet- 
mg  to  which  he  belonged,  of  those  rights  which  that 


236 


REASONS,  ETC. 


order  and  discipline,  as  well  as  the  truth  itself,  has 
confided  and  secured  to  him  as  a  member  and  minis- 
ter in  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  to  his  Monthly- 
Meeting,  as  authorized  judges  of  such  concern.  I 
say,  a  silent  submission  to  such  gratuitous  interfe- 
rence, could  be  deemed  no  less  than  a  virtual  sur- 
render and  abandonment  of  the  rights  of  the  Disci- 
pline and  usages  which  the  Yearly  Meeting  itself 
has  ordained  and  confirmed  as  a  standard  of  pro- 
ceeding throughout  all  its  subordinate  branches. 
Of  which  rights  and  usages  no  Friend,  or  body  of 
Friends,  whose  authority  is  inferior  to  the  Yearly 
Meeting,  can  deprive  them  otherwise  than  by  chan- 
nels prescribed  by  the  Yearly  Meeting. 

4th.  Therefore  he  ought  not  to  consent  to  the 
destruction  of  it  (or  the  copy  in  his  hands)  in  con- 
formity to  the  wishes  of  the  Committee,  because 
such  a  step  would  be  deemed  not  only  a  concession 
of  the  course  which  he  had  taken,  but  also  a  con- 
cession of  the  doctrines  which  he  had  thereby  been 
defending.  And  because  he  would  then  be  impli- 
cated, if  not  reported  abroad,  as  having  thus  con- 
ceded the  doctrines  of  ancient  Friends,  and  to 
have  admitted  the  doctrines  of  J.  J.  Gurney. 

5th.  That  he  had  no  occasion  in  this  way  to 
abandon  this  letter,  because  the  sentiments  therein 
contained  are  correct  and  tenable. 

6th.  It  ought  not  to  be  destroyed  by  the  writer 
because  the  committee  have  reported  abroad  that 
the  premises  tTierein  taken  are  "false  and  unsound," 
and  therefore  if  destroyed  by  his  consent,  it  would 
follow  that  whenever  the  writer  should  be  called 
upon  by  his  friends,  either  at  home  or  abroad,  to 
give  an  account  of  himself  in  relation  to  it,  the  pre- 
dicament in  which  he  would  then  be  placed  would 
be  exceedingly  unfavorable,  inasmuch  as  he  would 
thereby,  in  a  very  exemplary  manner,  condemn  his 
own  attempt  to  uphold  the  usage,  order  and  doc- 
trines of  Friends. 


REASONS,  ETC. 


237 


7th.  Because  the  committee,  or  a  member  of  it, 
has  endorsed  the  charge  of  falsehood  upon  it,  there- 
fore to  consent  to  its  destruction  at  any  rate,  but 
more  especially  until  that  endorsement  is  removed, 
would  be  deemed,  (and  not  very  unreasonably)  ac- 
ceding to  the  infamy  thereon  unjustly  placed.  And 
inasmuch  too,  as  that  charge  was  reiterated  and  at- 
tempted to  be  enforced  by  the  committee  in  South 
Kingston  Meeting  of  ministers  and  elders,  although 
they  utterly  failed  in  the  attempt. 

8th.  Because  no  one  of  the  committee  has  at- 
tempted to  refute  it  by  fair  and  honorable  argu- 
ments in  the  same  way,  with  ink  and  paper,  most 
easily  done,  if  it  be  as  exceptionable  as  they  affirm 
it  to  be,  agreeable  to  the  maxim,  viz :  "  The  more 
exceptionable  the  argument,  the  more  easy  and 
tenable  its  refutation." 

9th.  Because,  if  the  letter  should  become  extinct, 
and  therefore  could  not  be  appealed  to,  then  those 
who  have  a  disposition  to  condemn  it,  can  place 
their  own  censures  and  constructions  upon  it  with 
impunity,  and  without  fear  of  detection,  because  the 
negative  of  their  assumption  could  not  be  proved 
by  oral  testimony,  nor  by  any  other  means,  without 
the  letter  itself  Hence  it  was  not  without  cause  that 
the  committee  was  so  anxious  for  this  letter  to  be 
destroyed. 

The  committee  to  whom  this  letter  was  written, 
were,  as  heretofore  stated,  ostensibly  appointed  on 
another  account,  to  wit :  the  want  of  unity  apparent 
from  the  answers  to  the  queries  from  Rhode  Island 
and  Providence  Monthly  Meetings,  and  as  from  the 
committee's  o\mi  confession,  they  have  never  attend- 
ed to  those  reported  deficiencies;  it  is  altogether 
presumable  that  those  answers  were  so  made  out 
at  that  time,  and  sent  up  for  the  especial  purpose  of 
obtaining  the  appointment  of  a  committee  for  ar- 
raigning John  Wilbur ;  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the 


238 


TRUTH  IT3  OWN  DEFENCE. 


fact,  that  they  did  arraign  him,  and  did  nothing  else 
but  to  deal  with  him ! 

If  those  solemnities  of  ministers  and  elders,  set 
apart,  shall  have  been  perverted  by  a  feigned  repre- 
sentation, in  order  to  bring  about  an  unsuspected 
process  for  the  annoyance  of  an  innocent  brother,  it 
speaks  both  the  language  of  lamentation  over  the 
leaders  of  our  Israel,  and  of  warning  to  the  people  : 
Flee  to  thy  tent,  O  Jacob !  and  to  thy  Tabernacle, 
O  Israel ! 

TRUTH, 

Its  own  defence  under  oil  circumstances. 

The  argument  advanced,  that  a  minister  travel- 
ling with  a  certificate,  however  unsound,  ought  not 
to  be  detected  in  that  unsoundness,  because  such  a 
measure  would  hurt  his  service,  and  be  a  breach  of 
the  order  of  Society,  has  already  been  thrice  fairly 
refuted. 

If  there  is  or  ever  was  any  discipline,  or  conclu- 
sion of  the  Society  in  any  part  of  the  world,  pro- 
hibiting the  detection  and  exposure  of  doctrines 
pubhshed  at  large,  and  fundamentally  unsound,  the 
writer  of  these  remarks  makes  this  confession,  that 
he  has  never  seen  or  heard  of  it. 

If  one  man  is  more  dangerous  than  another,  on 
account  of  the  sentiments  which  he  holds,  it  is  he 
which  has  the  greater  intercourse  in  society  and 
with  the  world  at  large. 

Although  a  man  may  be  never  so  unsound,  if  a 
sohtary  character  and  stationary  in  the  world,  or 
known  only  within  a  limited  circle,  the  amount  of 
evil  proceeding  from  his  opinions,  is  comparatively 
small. 

But  if  a  man  is  a  public  character,  is  a  man  of 
influence,  is  a  man  of  personal  endowments  and 
attractive  manners,  both  in  the  public  and  private 
circles,  is  travelling  in  the  character  of  an  authorized 


TRUTH  ITS  OWN  DEFENCE. 


239 


minister,  and  mingling  with  the  Society  generally, 
what  great  and  powerlul  advantages  for  the  diffusion 
of  his  opinions  are  in  his  possession.  How  easily 
is  his  whole  character  impressed  upon  the  multi- 
tude !  And  how  full  the  esteem  and  credence  which 
he  easily  obtains,  insomuch,  that  notwithstanding 
he  holds  doctrines  fundamentally  unsound,  great 
will  be  the  difficulty  of  convincing  his  personal  ad- 
mirers of  his  heterodoxy  in  principle,  and  so  it  will 
prove  too  generally,  that  those  who  are  attracted 
and  drawn  to  his  person,  are  prepared  by  degrees 
to  receive  his  doctrines. 

How  needful,  therefore,  if  a  man  of  such  influ- 
ence and  notoriety  in  the  society,  is  known  to  he  un- 
sound, if  it  is  known  by  his  own  unretracted  decla- 
rations, that  his  sentiments  are  perversive  of  Quaker- 
ism ;  I  say,  how  needful  that  those  who  are  called 
and  appointed  to  watch  over  the  flock,  "  as  they 
that  are  to  give  account,"  should  warn  that  flock  of 
the  dangers  which  they  themselves  have  seen. 

But  it  has  been  advanced  by  some  of  the  members 
of  the  meeting  for  Suflerings,  that  no  one  has  a  right 
to  gainsay  the  doctrines  of  such  person,  however 
unsound,  until  that  body*  has  decided  them  to  be  at 
variance  with  the  doctrines  of  Friends,  a  rule  and 
assumption  which  it  is  believed  was  never  before 
suggested  or  claimed  by  members  of  a  meeting  for 
Suflerings  in  any  part  of  the  world,  to  the  exclusion 
of  other  concerned  Friends,  unless  it  was  so  by 
those  who  finally  seceded  from  our  principles  under 
the  apostacy  of  Elias  Hicks. 

The  overpowering  strength  of  the  defective  mem- 


^  *  Subsequently,  some  of  the  doctrines  published  by  J.  J.  G. 
were  laid  before  the  meeting  for  Sutferings,  and  that  body  desired 
to  examine  them,  and  decide  upon  their  orthodoxy,  but  that  body 
declined  such  examination,  and  members  of  it  rendered,  as  a  rea- 
son for  thus  declining,  that  they  were  not  authorised  to  determine 
upon  any  doctrines  already  printed. 


240 


TURTH  ITS  OWN  DEFENCE. 


bers  in  the  meeting  for  Sufferings  in  New  York,  at 
that  time,  is  well  known,  and  for  which  reason  no 
strictures  upon  the  unsound  doctrines,  then  making 
their  way  in  the  Society,  could  be  carried  through 
that  body.  But  will  any  one  among  us  now  say, 
that  no  individual  therefore  had  a  right  to  gainsay 
the  doctrine  of  Elias  Hicks  ? 

And  were  Isaac  Stephenson  and  Samuel  Wood, 
while  travelhng  with  certificates  in  New  England, 
chargeable  with  a  breach  of  order  for  exposing  the 
doctrines  of  Elias  Hicks,  because  the  latter  was  at 
the  same  time  travelling  with  a  certificate  to  the 
westward  ?  The  same  question  might  also  well  be 
asked  with  relation  to  George  Withy  and  Thomas 
Shilletoe,  and  others,  about  the  same  time,  for  expos- 
ing the  same  doctrines,  under  the  same  circum- 
stances. 

These  arguments  are  not  here  advanced  by  way 
of  charging  any  one  with  Hicksism,  or  any  other 
unsound  doctrines,  but  to  evince  that  such  a  rule 
would  be  extremely  absurd  if  ever  adopted  by  the 
Society,  and  also  contrary  to  the  Apostle's  injunc- 
tion to  all  the  members  of  the  church  at  Rome,  with- 
out distinction,  *'  to  mark  them  which  cause  divi- 
sion and  offences  contrary  to  the  doctrines  which 
they  had  learned,  and  to  avoid  tliem!^ 

Hence,  is  not  the  question  well  decided,  that  at 
the  very  least,  any  well  concerned,  sincere  mem- 
ber of  the  Society,  has  a  right  to  call  in  question 
such  doctrines,  advanced  by  any  one,  provided 
those  doctrines  are  tangibly  unsound,  let  the  circum- 
stances attending  the  holder  of  those  doctrines,  be 
what  they  may.  I  repeat  it  again,  let  those  circum- 
stances be  what  they  may,  because  the  safety  of 
the  whole  Society  is  of  immensely  greater  conse- 
quence than  the  standing  or  reputation  of  an  indi- 
vidual. And  as  it  has  been  shown,  as  above,  the 
greater  danger  for  travelling  ministers,  to  be  un- 
sound, than  for  others,  the  more  necessity  therefore 


TRUTH  ITS  OWN  DEFENCE. 


241 


arises  for  their  detection,  if  such  be  the  case  with 
them. 

It  has  been  said  that  to  gainsay  the  doctrines  of 
a  travelhng  minister  will  hurt  his  service — hurt  his 
service?  But  it  may  be  asked,  whether  any  one 
who  is  fundamentally  unsound  in  Christian  doc- 
trines, can  have  any  requirement  from  above  to 
perform  any  religious  service  in  our  Society? 

And  one  more  question  I  would  ask,  whether  any 
member  of  our  Society,  (no  matter  who)  can  be 
dealt  with  in  the  order  of  our  Discipline  for  dissent- 
ing from  and  protesting  against  doctrines  which  are 
ofFercd  to  his  acceptance,  if  he  can  fairly  and  clear- 
ly prove  those  doctrines  to  be  at  variance  with  the 
fundamental  doctrines  of  the  Society  ? 

Heretofore  we  have  heard  of  members  of  our  So- 
ciety being  labored  with  for  advocating  unsound 
doctrines,  but  never  till  recently  for  reprobating 
them  !    Whence  then  this  change  ? 

Shall  those  then  who  publicly  do  wrong  to  our 
principles,  and  demur  to  our  early  waiters,  be  eu- 
logized and  commended,  whilst  those  who  consci- 
entiously detect  and  withstand  those  wrongs,  are 
reproached  and  condemned  ? 

What  a  strange  paradoxy  and  inverted  state  of 
things  has  now  transpired  and  become  popular- 
Can  our  condition  now  be  Uke  those  complained  of 
by  the  prophet,  who  called  evil  good  and  good  evil, 
that  put  darkness  for  light  and  light  for  darkness  ? 

Do  we  not  know  that  a  fair  examination  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  an  author  reflects  upon  him  only  in  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  of  good  or  evil  inculcated  thereby  ? 

Does  he  who  offers  to  our  acceptance  sentiments 
which  are  at  variance  with  those  heretofore  ac- 
knowledged by  us,  at  the  same  time  refuse  to  us 
the  right  of  dissenting  therefrom  ? 

Whether  he  be  so  understood  or  not,  this  we  know, 
that  the  Giver  of  all  our  rights  has  not  withheld 
this  from  any  of  his  rational  creatures, 
11 


242 


DISCIPLINE  EXAMINED. 


DISCIPLINE  EXAMINED, 

And  other  things  relative  to  the  controversy  con- 
sidered. 

It  is  contemplated  by  our  principles  and  Disci- 
pline, that  our  ministers  should  be  so  careful  to  wait 
for  the  Divine  anointing,  as  that  their  ministry 
should  be  sound  and  savory. 

But  if  otherwise,  and  their  services  should  unhap- 
pily become  burthensome  and  without  life  ;  or,  if 
they  should  evince,  either  by  their  preaching,  con- 
versation or  otherwise,  that  themselves  were  not 
sound,  either  in  the  gift  or  in  the  true  faith ;  or  if 
their  life  and  conversation  should  not  comport  with 
their  profession,  then,  in  either  of  these  cases,  if  at 
home,  they  are  to  be  labored  with  by  the  elders  of 
the  church  in  a  Christian  spirit,  and  if  a  reformation 
cannot  be  effected,  to  be  advised  to  suspend  their 
public  ministry. 

And  moreover,  if  such  things  are  discovered  in 
them  when  abroad,  and  continued  after  due  caution, 
it  is  considered  requisite  (if  the  writer  of  this  under- 
stands the  order  and  usage  of  the  Society)  that  the 
select  members  do,  for  the  safety  of  the  church,  ad- 
vise such  to  return  home. 

But  when  none  of  these  defects  appear,  and  a 
minister  gives  good  satisfaction  in  relation  to  the 
requisite  qualifications,  both  at  home  and  abroad  ; 
and  on  returning  from  service  abroad,  brings  satis- 
factory testimonials  from  those  whom  he  has  visited, 
then  let  it  be  asked,  what  Friend  or  body  of  Friends 
are  authorised  to  interfere  with  his  RIGHTS, 
or  with  the  RIGHTS  of  the  Monthly  Meeting 
where  he  belongs  ? 

-  But  there  is  another  article  of  advice  in  our  book 
of  Discipline,  and  of  sterling  import  too,  which 
should  not  be  overlooked  or  mistaken,  and  that  is, 
that  ministers  be  tender  of  one  another,  and  be  care* 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


143 


ful  not  to  hurt  one  another's  services,  whether  at 
home  or  abroad.  But  this  Disciphne  evidently  con- 
templates and  refers  to  those  that  are  sound  in  w^ord 
and  doctrine,  by  which  Disciphne  great  counsel  and 
caution  are  extended,  that  ministers  should  be  kept 
so,  for  if  otherwise  than  sound,  it  would  plainly  ap- 
pear that  such  an  one  could  not  be  a  laborer  in  the 
field  of  service,  provided  the  foregoing  Discipline 
had  been  administered  according  to  its  intent  and 
meaning. 

Hence  it  is  clear,  that  the  latter  paragraph  of 
Discipline  has  no  such  meaning  as  that  a  minister 
should  not  be  allowed  to  recognize  and  expose  the 
sentiments  of  one  claiming  to  be  a  minister — senti- 
ments which  he  had  seen  to  be  fundamentally  un- 
sound and  dangerous  to  the  body.  And  for  this 
reason,  because  the  latter  can  have  no  legitimate 
service  in  the  church  to  he  hurt  thei^ehy. 

If  the  latter  paragraph  were  necessarily  to  be  so 
construed,  as  that  one  minister  had  no  right  to  de- 
tect and  expose  the  unsound  doctrines  of  another 
minister,  so  reputed,  lest  his  character  or  calling 
should  be  hurt  thereby ;  then  it  would  seem  that  the 
framers  of  our  Discipline  had  entrapped  themselves, 
and  thereby  jeopardized  the  safety  of  the  Society 
by  means  of  an  oversight  in  relation  to  a  correspon- 
dency of  its  parts,  so  as  that  it  might  be  laid  hold 
of  by  defective  individuals  or  their  Friends,  in 
screening  them  from  the  due  judgment  of  truth. 

A  construction  w^hich  I  deem  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  meaning  of  our  rules  for  the  preserA^ation 
of  harmonious  labor  among  ministers,  as  for  the 
protection  of  the  whole  Society  against  unsound  and 
dangerous  doctrines,  which  construction,  as  well  as 
any  mistake  in  the  forming  of  our  Discipline,  the 
writer  is  altogether  unwilling  to  allow,  because  he 
is  well  assured  that  the  consistency  of  its  provisions 
are  plain  and  tangible,  and  clearly  to  be  uuderstood, 
that  those  who  are  not  one  with  us  in  doctrine,  are 


244 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


not  contemplated  thereby  to  be  countenanced  as 
preachers,  or  to  be  abroad  as  ministers,  and  there- 
fore our  DiscipHne  cannot  have  provided  for  the 
protection  of  them. 

But  there  is  still  another  paragraph  of  Discipline 
of  paramount  importance  in  this  case,  and  which 
settles  the  question  to  every  intent  and  purpose, 
and  places  it  beyond  all  disputation,  that  all  faithful 
Friends,  [whether  ministers,  elders  or  others,]  are 
not  only  allowed  to  relieve  their  minds,  when  they 
painfully  perceive  our  principles  to  be  invaded,  but 
are  enjoined  and  required  to  be  watchful  o\'^r  our 
members  who  deviate  from  our  Christian  principles, 
and  to  labor  with  them,  let  them  be  whom  they  may, 
not  excepting  ministers  and  elders  under  any  cir- 
cumstances whatever,  any  more  than  common  mem- 
bers, and  that  for  good  reason  too,  because  if  they 
should  deviate,  the  more  of  course  the  harm  that 
must  come  of  it. 

A  short  time  before  the  separation  of  the  Hicks- 
ites  from  Friends,  a  meeting  at  Purchase,  or  there- 
abouts, was  said  to  have  been  attended  by  Elias 
Hicks,  Daniel  Wood,  and  Rowland  Greene.  And 
immediately  thereafter,  we  were  told,  that  the  two 
latter  gave  ready  information  abroad,  that  Elias 
Hicks  preached  very  unsound  doctrine  at  that  meet- 
ing. 

Wherefore,  let  it  be  asked,  whether  or  not  they 
were  chargeable  with  a  breach  of  Friend's  Disci- 
pline, as  hurting  the  service  or  character  of  Elias 
Hicks  ? 

To  this  question,  I  apprehend,  it  will  be  readily 
answered,  that  they  were  not.  Why  ?  Because 
the  doctrine  of  Elias  Hicks  was  believed  to  be  un- 
sound and  dangerous  doctrine,  and  that  it  was 
therefore  the  duty  of  those  friends,  (though  minis- 
ters, and  out  at  the  same  time  on  religious  service,) 
to  testify  faithfully,  both  against  him  and  his  doc- 
trine. 


DISCIPLINE  CONSIDERED. 


245 


But  suppose  some  of  the  Friends  of  E.  H.,  under 
the  professed  authority  of  a  Quarterly  Meeting  of 
ministers  and  elders,  come  forward  and  call  on 
Daniel  Wood  and  Rowland  Greene,  to  give  account 
of  their  proceedings  in  that  matter.  Whereupon 
they,  the  said  D.  W.  and  R.  G.,  as  an  apology,  ad- 
vance the  above  as  their  plea,  to  wit :  "  that  the 
doctrines  which  E.  H.  preached  were  very  un- 
sound," and  propose  to  state  to  the  committee  Elias 
Hick's  very  words,  to  show  that  they  had  good  and 
sufficient  cause  for  the  course  they  had  taken. 

Nay,  say  the  committee,  we  have  nothing  at  all 
to  do  with  the  doctrines  of  E.  Hicks,  but  our  busi- 
ness and  our  concern  is  for  the  support  of  the  or- 
der and  Discipline  of  the  Society.  You  had  no 
right  to  open  your  lips  against  Elias  Hicks.  He 
stands  as  an  approved  minister,  and  carries  as  good 
a  certificate  as  you  do  ! 

Such  was  the  plea  of  E.  Hicks  and  his  friends  on 
all  occasions,  to  avoid  an  exposure  and  examina- 
tion of  his  doctrines,  and  such  is  the  plea  of  J.  J.  G. 
and  his  friends,  to  avoid  the  exposure  and  investiga- 
tion of  his  doctrines. 

But  the  Friends  of  J.  J.  G.  say,  that  his  doctrines 
are  not  so  bad  as  those  of  E.  H.,  and  therefore  the 
cases  are  not  parallel.  But  how  do  we  know  which 
of  the  two  systems  are  the  most  exceptionable,  un- 
til the  merits  of  them  are  examined  ? 

Do  they  choose  to  determine  cases  without  an 
investigation  and  without  evidence  ? 

If  there  are  any  who  think  that  J.  J.  Gurney's 
case  is  good,  why  need  they  fear  an  examination 
to  see  whether  it  be  better  than  that  of  E.  Hicks, 
and  how  much  ?* 


*  lu  the  adoption  of  a  principle  of  action  in  such  cases,  the  qnes- 
tiou  rests,  not  upon  the  excess  of  unsoundness,  in  the  one  case  or 
in  the  other,  but  upon  the  existence  of  it,  in  relation  to  essential 
points. 


246  HICKS  AND  GURNEY  CONTRASTED. 


The  parallel  of  these  cases  is,  their  doctrines  are 
both  fundamentally  unsound  and  erroneous,  and 
the  principle  on  which  both  of  these  persons  have 
acted,  is  precisely  the  same,  and  that  is,  manifesting 
a  determination  to  avoid  a  comparison  of  them  with 
the  doctrines  of  Friends,  a  course  which  all  who 
have  attempted  an  innovation  upon  our  religious 
principles  have  pursued,  that  is  to  say,  all  who  have 
proposed  to  themselves  to  carry  the  Society  with 
them. 

Here  then  is  a  sure  test  of  motives, — all  those 
writers  whose  intentions  are  honestly  to  set  forth 
and  to  promote  the  true  Christian  doctrines  as  held 
by  Friends,  have  ever  been,  in  all  readiness,  to  com- 
pare their  own  views  with  the  standard  writings  of 
our  Society.  But  on  the  contrary,  those  whose  in- 
tentions are  to  modify  or  change  the  doctrines  of 
Friends,  have  always  without  exception,  studiously 
avoided  a  contrast  of  their  own  sentiments  with 
those  of  the  Society. 

On  whichever  hand,  therefore,  the  intentions  of 
such  have  been  "  to  remove  the  land  marks,"  their 
aim  and  manner  of  doing  it  have  run  parallel  to  each 
other,  have  been  obviously  the  same,  to  remove 
them  unseen  and  unsuspected  by  the  members  at 
large,  whilst  he  who  doeth  truth  cometh  to  the  light 
that  his  deeds  may  be  made  manifest,  that  they  are 
wrought  in  God. 

Elias  Hicks  and  Joseph  John  Gurney  have  both 
professed  and  declared  their  own  views  to  be  in  uni- 
son with  the  primitive  doctrine  of  Friends  in  regard 
to  the  Saviour  of  men,  if  not  in  all  points.  But 
the  former,  however,  appears  to  be  wanting  in 
his  fidelity  as  to  Christ's  personal  coming  and  attri- 
butes ;  and  the  latter  in  his  fidelity  as  to  his  spiritual 
coming  and  dwelling  in  the  heart  of  man.  The  lat- 
ter has  the  fullest  faith  in  his  personal  coming  and 
atoning  sacrifice  for  the  remission  of  sins ;  the 
former  as  full  in  his  spiritual  coming  for  the  reno- 


OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 


247 


vation  of  the  inner  man,  and  a  saving  of  him  from 
a  continuance  in  sin. 

But  both  of  these  appear  to  be  great  debtors  to 
the  correct  part  of  each  other's  doctrine  ;  each  ap- 
parently holds  to  half,  and  each  apparently  rejects 
half  of  the  Christian  covenant,  and  therefore  hold- 
ing nothing  in  common  with  each  other  in  relation  to 
redemption  by  Christ.  Bat  still,  each  (professedly) 
holding  to  half  the  covenant  in  common  with 
Friends. 

OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 

There  are  those  who  have  been,  and  continue  to 
be,  very  liberal  in  their  censures  upon  those  who 
have  conscientiously  proclaimed  a  fast  from  im- 
bibing certain  defective  doctrines  abroad  in  the  So- 
ciety, finding  fault  with  every  course  they  have 
taken  in  the  faithful  discharge  of  what  they  believe 
to  be  their  religious  duty.  At  one  time  averring, 
that  however  great  any  evil  might  appear,  their 
manner  of  exposing  it  is  altogether  improper.  And 
at  another  time,  charge  the  whole  present  difficulty 
in  the  Society,  not  upon  the  evil  and  the  authors  of 
it,  but  upon  those  who  expose  the  evil,  and  upon  the 
manner  of  doing  it. 

And  the  advocates  of  J.  J.  G.  further  state,  that  if 
those  who  reprobate  his  doctrines  had  forborne  to 
do  so,  the  present  dissension  would  not  have  exist- 
ed, and  things  among  u's  would  have  remained 
quiet.  Be  it  so.  And  so  they  might  say,  if  the 
prophets  in  former  times  had  held  their  peace,  and 
quietly  suffered  Israel  to  depart  from  the  doctrine  of 
the  Lord's  covenant  with  them,  then  the  dissensions 
between  the  faithful  and  the  unfaithful  might  have 
been  avoided,  and  a  quiet  agreement  in  the  lapse  of 
principle  enjoyed,  at  least  until  the  judgments  of  the 
Lord  were  poured  out  upon  them. 

And  so,  if  those  called  Protestants  had  stifled 
their  convictions,  and  kept  still,  then  the  persecu- 


248 


OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 


tions  and  burning  of  martyrs  would  not  have  trans- 
pired. 

Again,  if  George  Fox  and  his  friends  had  been 
disobedient  to  Divine  manifestations  and  requir- 
ings,  in  preaching  again  the  inward  power,  Ufe  and 
Hght  of  primitive  Christianity,  in  contravention  with 
priestcraft,  then  all  the  outward  persecutions,  im- 
prisonments and  martyrdoms  which  they  suffered 
might  have  been  avoided  ! 

And  lastly,  if  those  who  maintained  sound  doc- 
trines against  Elias  Hicks  and  his  followers,  had 
chosen  that  kind  of  peace  and  unity  so  loudly  called 
for  by  the  latter,  in  preference  to  the  true  princi- 
ples and  doctrines  of  Truth,  then  the  cruel  dissen- 
sions and  sore  ti'oubles  which  ensued  might  have 
been  avoided. 

Who  then,  in  consideration  of  all  these  religious 
dissensions,  shall  we  make  chargeable  with  the 
appalling  results  which  followed  ? 

Shall  we  charge  the  calamities  of  early  times 
upon  the  prophets  who  could  not  hold  their  peace 
when  the  testimonies  of  that  covenant  were  pro- 
faned ?  Or,  shall  we  charge  all  the  blood  of  all  the 
martyrs  upon  a  Wickliffe  and  a  Huss,  a  Luther  and 
a  Calvin,  because  they  withstood  the  Romish  super- 
stitions and  atrocities  ?  Or  shall  we  charge  it  w^here 
it  belongs,  upon  the  pope  and  his  insidious  hierarchy? 
Or  shall  we  charge  the  great  dissensions  and  cruel 
persecutions  which  fell  out  in  the  days  of  our  first 
Friends  upon  George  Fox  and  his  cotemporaries, 
because  the  doctrines  which  they  preached  and 
their  opposition  to  a  hireling  ministry  led  to  those 
dissensions  ? 

Again,  shall  we  charge  upon  those  who  reprobat- 
ed and  withstood  the  doctrines  of  Elias  Hicks  w^ith 
the  great  confusion  which  took  place  at  Mount  Plea- 
sant and  at  New  York,  when  that  fearful  schism 
was  consummated  at  those  places,  seeing  that  if 
those  doctrines  of  E.  H.  had  not  been  controverted, 
those  events  would  not  have  transpired. 


OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 


249 


No  more  than  they,  therefore,  are  those  who  re- 
probate false  doctrines  in  the  same  way  and  manner 
in  this  day,  chargeable  with  the  consequences  which 
follow ;  but  those  by  whom  the  offence  cometh — 
the  author  and  the  abettors  of  him  and  his  doctrines, 
they  are  they  on  w^hom  the  vast  responsibility  rests  ! 
And  more  especially  in  those  places  w^here  such  have 
the  ascendency,  should  they  be  disposed  to  close  up 
every  avenue  thi'ough  which  the  society  at  large 
may  obtain  correct  information  of  the  soundness  or 
unsoundness  of  such  doctrines  as  are  offered  to  their 
acceptance. 

But  there  are  among  us,  those  w-ho  suggest,  if 
rightly  understood,  that  it  is  not  so  much  the  want 
of  occasion,  more  or  less,  for  reprobating  the  doc- 
trines of  J.  J.  G.,  nor  of  the  right  of  doing  so,  that 
they  object ;  but  that  it  is  the  manner  in  w^hich  some 
have  spoken  against  J.  J.  G.  or  his  doctrines,  that 
they  disapprove. 

To  w^hich  the  writer  replies,  that  seeing  the  doc- 
trines alluded  to  are  easily  proved  to  be  fundamen- 
tally unsound,  and  tangibly  perversive  of  Quaker- 
ism, he  feels  fully  w^arranted  in  claiming  the  authori- 
ty and  example  of  those  who  have  heretofore,  in  the 
very  same  manner,  spoken  and  testified  against  doc- 
trines which  were  also  unsound  and  perversive  of 
Quakerism,  as  well  as  against  the  authors  and  hold- 
ers of  those  doctrines.  He  is  now  referring  to  the 
authority  of  William  Almy,  Rowland  Greene,  Abel 
Collins,  Thomas  Rowland,  WiUiam  Jenkins,  and  a 
great  number  of  other  Friends,  at  the  time  of  the 
Hicksite  controversy. 

These  friends  appeared  to  be  conscientiously 
concerned  to  guard  the  members  of  our  Society 
against  imbibing  the  defective  doctrines,  which 
were  then  spreading  both  in  New  England  and  to 
the  westward.  And  tw^o  of  the  number  mentioned, 
travelled  westward  in  the  ministry  at  that  time,  and 
were  often  known,  in  the  same  manner,  to  warn 
11* 


?50 


OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 


Friends  against  imbibing  the  unsound  doctrines  then 
spreading  in  the  society,  whilst  they  were  out  on 
religious  service. 

The  manner  of  the  Friends  appealed  to  above, 
was  to  speak  and  testify  against  the  unsound  doc- 
trines then  advocated ;  and  their  example  and  man- 
ner has  been  followed  by  some  concerned  Friends 
of  the  present  day,  to  guard  the  society  against 
defective  views  that  are  offered  to  their  acceptance. 

Again,  there  are  some  who  refer  to  the  authority 
of  numbers  as  a  reason  for  their  choice  of  ground 
in  the  present  controversy  ;  and  others  to  the  credi- 
bihty  of  the  character  and  standing  of  those  to 
whom  they  had  been  accustomed  to  look  as  leading 
Friends. 

Reasons  like  these,  undoubtedly,  have  a  powerful 
effect  upon  the  mind  of  man — upon  his^  affections 
and  passions.  But  the  wise  and  conscientious  be- 
liever, so  soon  as  he  finds  that  either  numbers  or 
character,  are  placed  in  competition  with  j9n'nc?*p/e5, 
however  great  the  number,  or  conspicuous  thfi 
character,  he  is  awakened  to  a  greater  necessity  of 
a  firm  resolution  and  decision  in  favor  of  the  truth 
and  sound  principles,  regardless  of  the  consequen- 
ces which  may  follow. 

Had  it  not  been  for  such  honest  resolution  and 
decision  of  character,  firmly  adhered  to  by  the  first 
few  protestant  reformers,  what  would  have  become 
of  the  reformation  from  popery  ?  It  would  never 
have  been.  And  but  for  such  derision  in  George  ^ 
Fox,  and  a  few  other  congenial  spirits  against 
protestant  Babylon,  Quakerism  had  probably  never 
existed. 

But  these  few  solitary  individuals  in  the  midst  of 
a  great  nation,  and  in  the  midst  of  nations,  bound 
in  the  covenant  of  a  glorious  hope  ;  were  enabled 
to  maintain  the  truth  against  the  opposition  and 
resistance  of  all  the  domination  of  earthly  power, 
against  the  many — the  solitary  few  against  the 


OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 


251- 


mighty,  the  noble,  the  honorable,  because  He  who 
must  be  obeyed,  rather  than  all  men,  had  command- 
ed them,  and  was  with  them  in  the  work  w^hereunto 
he  had  called  them. 

Again,  if  numbers  or  names  are  to  govern  prin- 
ciple, must  we  not  then,  by  the  same  rule,  abandon 
Quakerism  altogether,  although  it  hath,  under  that 
name,  existed  for  near  two  centuries,  and  led  thou- 
sands to  glory  triumphant,  because  the  whole 
society  is  but  a  little  handful  compared  with  the 
whole  body  of  Christian  professors  ?  Inasmuch, 
too,  as  among  others  we  know  there  are  many 
mighty,  many  noble,  and  many  great  men,  whose 
intimacy  and  friendship  has  become  so  exceedingly 
enticing  to  some  among  the  Quakers. 

Finally,  because  the  great  body  of  those  under 
our  name,  (including  many  eminent  men.)  upon 
Long  Island,  and  divers  other  places  in  New  York, 
and  elsewhere,  adhered  to  an  unsound  man  and  his 
sentiments.  Ought  those  few  who  remanied,  to 
have  gone  with  them,  because  their  number  was 
small  \* 


*  Daring  the  pendency  of  the  editor's  case  before  the  society, 
much  pains  ha%-e  been  taken  to  defame  his  character,  sending  abroad 
over  the  Yearly  Meeting,  as  well  as  elsewhere,  a  great  variety  of 
imfounded  reports,  in  order  no  doubt,  to  enhst  if  possible,  the  whole 
society  against  him,  so  that  his  excommunication  might  be  the  more 
easily  affected. 

Aiid  since  that  has  been  accomplished,  some  of  the  same  and 
other  unfounded  stories  are  most  industriously  circulated  ;  as  it  ap- 
pears for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  full  assent  or  justification  in  the 
minds  of  Friends,  of  the  cruel  measures  thus  consummated  upon  an 
afflicted  brother. 

But  through  the  kindness  of  liis  Friends,  he  has  had  the  opportu- 
nity of  refuting  many  of  these  reports, — all  that  have  reached  him  ; 
and  so  far  as  he  knows,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  those  who  have  been 
so  good  as  to  give  him  the  opportunity  of  doing  so.  He  has  always 
encouraged  enquiries  and  investigations  into  those  reports,  aud  still 
does  encourage  them,  although,  like  the  Apostle,  he  would  rather 
glory  in  his  infirmities  than  to  take  praise  to  himself,  or  to  attempt 
to  hide  them  fi-om  the  Searcher  of  Hearts,  or  from  his  beloved 
Friends,  whose  reproofs,  when  given  as  directed  by  the  Saviour,  he 


252 


OBJECTIONS  ANSWERED. 


The  Yearly  and  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committees 
have  said  and  reported,  that  their  treatment  towards 
J.  W.  has  been  in  kindness  and  great  tenderness  ; 
and  these  reports  have  been  widely  spread  by 
themselves  and  others,  not  only  in  New  England, 
but  otherwhere,  as  many  of  his  readers  will  bear 
witness. 

But  if  the  reader  has  given  attention  to  the  fore- 
going narrative  of  the  proceedings  of  these  Com- 
mittees, and  marked  the  unreasonable  privations, 
and  unkind  usages  to  which  they  have  subjected  J. 
W.,  he  must  have  been  prepared  before  coming  to 
this  article  to  reprobate,  in  no  unhesitating  manner, 
these  most  unhallowed  pretentions  to  kindness  and 
tenderness. 

They  refused  to  allow  him  the  company  and  as- 
sistance of  any  of  his  near  Friends,  when  under  the 
painful  endurance  of  their  reprimands,  and  even 
that  of  his  wife  ;  and  such  refusal  as  this  was  per- 
sisted in  to  the  last,  although  the  right  was  often 
requested,  and  by  means  of  disability  was  often 
needful. 

The  reader  will  have  seen,  that  they  refused  him 
altogether,  his  right  of  access  to  the  records,  so 
needful  to  the  preparation  of  his  case  in  vindication 
of  his  proceedings,  and  to  prove  the  wrongs  that 
were  inflicted  upon  him. 

The  reader  will  also  have  seen,  that  they  sought 
an  advantage  over  him,  by  demanding  answers  to 
irrelevant  questions — that  they  shifted  their  ground 
divers  times,  in  order  to  prevent  and  interrupt  the 
course  of  his  defence, — that  they  proffered  him 
anonymous  papers  in  order  to  annoy  him, — that 


would  desire  to  profit  by.  And  his  fei-vent  prayer  is,  that  when 
God  sees  iniquity  in  him,  that  He  would  do  it  away — that  He  would 
ever  awaken  and  quicken  his  conscience  to  a  ready  perception  of 
all  that  offends  Him,  and  to  cause  that  judgment  should  have  its 
perfect  work. 


RECORDS. 


253 


they  accused  him  o^  falsehood,  touching  the  premi- 
ses of  his  letter  to  them,  and  virtually  pronounced 
those  premises  to  be  a  fabrication,  and  thus  charg- 
ing him  with  that  which  they  could  never  prove, 
otherwise  than  by  a  reiteration  of  the  same  charges ; 
and  charges  too,  which  were  not  maintainable, — 
that  they  accused  him  in  large  companies  with 
stubbornness,  and  of  being  possessed  of  a  dark'and 
hard  heart. 

In  short,  their  treatment  of  him  on  all  occasions, 
so  far  from  tenderness,  has  been  but  the  confirma- 
tion of  a  determination  to  prostrate  his  standing, — 
some  of  which  movements  have  been  noticed  in 
this  work. 

RECORDS. 

The  appellant  had  several  times  applied  to  the 
clerk  of  the  Quarterly  Meeting  of  ministers  and 
elders  for  a  copy  of  the  minute,  by  which  their 
committee  was  appointed  and  authorized  for  service, 
in  the  restoration  of  unity  and  harmony,  but  he 
refused  to  give  it,  without  direction  from  the  meet- 
ing. The  Select  Quarterly  Meeting  was  therefore 
applied  to  for  liberty  to  their  clerk  to  furnish  a  copy 
as  aforesaid  ;  but  it  refused  to  give  such  liberty. 

When  the  investigation  of  his  case  before  the 
committee  of  his  own  Monthly  Meeting  approach- 
ed, one  of  that  committee  requested  the  Yearly 
Meeting's  Committee,  some  of  whom  were  expected 
to  be  in  attendance,  to  bring  with  them  a  copy  of 
the  minute  as  above,  and  also  from  the  clerk's  files, 
South  Kingston  Select  Meeting's  account  of  its 
state,  as  presented  to  the  Quarter  in  the  5th  month, 
1840.  When  the  committee  met,  a  paper  was 
brought,  purporting  to  be  a  copy  of  said  minute  ; 
but  the  account  from  South  Kingston  was  not  pro- 
duced. 

The  appellant,  having  been  present  when  the 


254 


RECORDS. 


minute  was  made,  and  being  at  that  time  apprehen- 
sive of  the  intentions  of  the  movers  of  this  measure, 
took  especial  notice  of  the  wording  of  the  minute, 
and  had  also  heard  it  read  once  or  twice  afterwards, 
by  the  committee,  in  the  early  part  of  its  proceed- 
ings ;  and  could  not,  therefore,  now  believe  that  the 
paper  now  produced,  was  a  true  copy  of  the  origi- 
nal minute ;  but  still  thought  it  most  prudent,  not  to 
disclose  his  apprehensions  at  this  time,  not  knowing 
but  the  discrepancy  might  possibly  occur  inciden- 
tally. But  the  account  not  being  brought,  the  ap- 
pellant proposed  sending  a  messenger  to  the  clerk's 
office  for  it,  unless  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee 
would  admit  its  clearness  in  relation  to  unity,  and 
which  they  acceded  to,  rather  than  to  have  the 
account  presented. 

He  now  concluded  to  do  the  best  he  could  with 
things  as  they  were,  intending  if  another  occasion 
should  offer  for  it,  to  call  for  the  book  itself,  and  to 
be  sure  to  have  the  account  present. 

Accordingly,  when  his  appeal  was  pending  before 
the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  and  the  time  of 
meeting  not  far  distant,  the  appellant  applied  in 
writing  to  the  respondents,  (one  of  whom  was  the 
keeper  of  the  papers,  and  was  the  clerk  of  the 
Select  Quarterly  Meeting,)  to  produce  before  the 
Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee  on  the  appeal,  the 
books  of  records  which  contained  the  minutes  of 
Rhode  Island  Quarterly  Meeting  of  Ministers  and 
Elders,  held  in  the  5th  month,  1840,  and  also  the 
accounts  from  South  Kingston  Select  Meeting 
which  was  presented  at  that  meeting  :  being  in  their 
possession,  and  essential  in  the  trial  of  the  case. 

In  due  time,  while  the  appeal  was  in  progress, 
before  the  Quarterly  Meeting's  Committee,  the 
respondents  were  asked  to  lay  on  the  table  the  book 
and  papers  called  for  by  the  appellant, — after  some 
hesitation  they  said,  they  were  not  present ;  but 
offered  such  an  extract  as  before.    The  appellant 


RECORDS. 


255 


now  complained  of  the  injustice  in  withholding  from 
him  his  right  of  an  evidence  so  essential  in  his  case. 
The  respondents  replied  by  saying,  "  Does  John 
Wilbur  think  that  we  will  bring  evidence  here,  to  des- 
troy our  own  case  V  And  subsequently  repeated 
the  same  again ! 

The  appellant  now  enquired,  whether  a  public 
officer  could  withhold  books  or  papers  pertaining  to 
his  office,  in  a  case  on  trial,  though  their  presence 
might  subject  himself  to  a  decision  not  to  his  ow^n 
advantage  ? 

But  most  of  the  committee  apparently,  like  Gal- 
lio,  cared  for  none  of  these  things  ;  nor  did  they  so 
much  as  say  to  the  clerk  of  the  Select  Quarterly 
Meeting,  that  the  appellant  had  a  right  to  call  for 
that  book — and  that  he,  the  clerk,  had  laid  himself 
liable  for  refusing  to  produce  it. 

Being  of  this  temperament,  the  Quarterly  Meet- 
ing's Committee  of  course  decided  the  case  against 
the  appellant.  But  he  was  now  more  fully  confirm- 
ed than  before,  that  the  discrepancy  was  not  merely 
incidental ;  but  the  record  had  either  undergone 
some  mutilation  or  was  garbled  in  copying  ! 

Therefore,  previous  to  the  Yearly  Meeting  where 
his  appeal  was  to  be  finally  decided,  the  appellant 
called  at  the  house  of  the  clerk  of  the  Select  Quar- 
terly Meeting,  who  was  also  one  of  the  respondents 
from  the  Quarterly  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  and 
found  him  at  leisure ;  and  there  plead  with  him  for 
justice,  and  the  right  which  is  due  to  all  men,  and 
which  the  discipline  gives  and  provides  for  all  who  ap- 
peal to  its  decision,  but  found  his  mind  closed  against 
all  entreaty  for  justice.  The  appellant  now  desired 
him  to  turn  to  the  minute  in  question,  and  to  let  him 
just  see  it ;  but  he  would  not.  He  then  asked  him, 
if  he  would  not  carry  the  book  and  South  Kings- 
ton account  to  the  Yearly  Meeting,  but  he  would 
give  no  encouragement  of  doing  so.  The  appellant 
then  told  him,  that  if  he  persisted  in  a  refusal  to  do 


256 


RECORDS. 


SO,  he  should  have  a  right  to  say  that  his  copy  was 
not  a  true  copy  of  the  original  minute,  and  they 
might  expect  him  to  challenge  it  as  spurious,  before 
the  committee  of  the  Yearly  Meeting ;  and  that  he 
might  expect  him  further  to  prove  it  by  the  ques- 
tion which  they  put  at  Providence,  to  wit :  "  Does 
John  Wilbur  think  that  we  will  bring  evidence  to 
destroy  our  own  case  ?  ! !"  An  interrogative  and 
declarative  of  their  own,  clearly  and  fully  proving 
that  the  book  contains  evidence  against  them,  which 
the  extract  they  brought  did  not. 

When  Yearly  Meeting  came  they  did  persist  in 
the  same  course,  and  carried  not  the  book  and  doc- 
ument as  requested  ;  but  with  a  hope,  as  it  appeared, 
to  work  on  the  credulity  of  the  committee  on  the 
case,  they  produced  what  they  called  a  copy  by  the 
clerk,  and  a  duplicate,  said  to  be  taken  from  the 
records  by  another  of  the  respondents,  and  so  far  as 
the  appellant  knows,  might  be  a  copy  of  a  mutilated 
record  as  it  now  stands,  but  not  of  it,  in  its  original 
form,  which,  if  brought  forward  must  unavoidably,  as 
they  said  at  Providence,  destroy  their  own  case.  Or 
did  they  not  rather  mean  that  the  exposure  of  some 
marks  of  an  officious  hand  upon  the  face  of  that 
minute  with  the  document  from  South  Kingston 
brought  to  view,  would  destroy  (what  they  called) 
their  own  case  ?  And  better  he  thinks  to  call  it  their 
own  case,  rather  than  truth's  cause. 

But  the  appellant  did  refuse  to  acknowledge  these 
pretended  copies;  they  not  being  the  evidence 
which  the  nature  of  this  case,  and  state  of  things 
now  called  for,  but  a  mere  evasion  of  duty,  and 
violation  of  good  faith.  Was  it  ever  known  before, 
that  any  people  under  our  name  had  become  so  lost 
to  a  sense  of  justice,  and  the  honor  of  the  cause  of 
truth,  and  had  so  conducted  towards  an  individual 
member,  as  to  refuse  that  their  deeds  should  be 
brought  to  the  light  ?    Or,  that  refused  to  disclose 


SUBORDINATION  TO  THE  BODY. 


257 


to  his  proper  judges,  their  usage  toward  him  ? 
The  appellant  believes  not. 

He  now  made  objection  to  these  papers,  purport- 
ing to  be  copies  of  record,  and  protested  against 
them,  as  spurious  documents  ;  and  consequently, 
showing  that  the  committee  of  the  Select  Quarterly 
Meeting,  who  had  been  the  instigators  and  chief 
actors  in  this  unjust  course  of  persecution,  had  en- 
tirely neglected  and  departed  from  the  recorded 
business  of  their  appointment ;  and  without  cause, 
and  without  any  discipline  to  warrant  it,  made  an 
unprovoked  attack  upon  him,  whilst  in  the  proper 
exercise  of  his  duty  in  the  support  of  our  discipline, 
and  therefore  had  no  cause  at  all  to  complain  of  his 
vindication  in  his  letter,  or  of  his  reprobating  un- 
sound doctrines  of  their  author.* 

SUBORDINATION  TO  THE  BODY. 

In  all  compacts  or  associations,  individuals  stand 
by  mutual  agreement  in  subordination  to  bodies,  so 
long  as  those  bodies  sustain  and  protect  the  interest 
and  rights  of  those  individuals,  agreeable  to  tRe 
rules  or  laws  of  that  compact.  If  such  general 
compact  consist  of  branches  composed  of  divers  in- 
dividuals, those  branches,  in  like  manner,  stand  in 
the  condition  of  subordination  to  the  general  com- 
pact or  association. 

Such  association  being  formed  and  mutually  en- 
tered into,  or  voluntarily  acknowledged  by  every 
individual  member  of  it,  for  the  benefit  of  each,  be- 


*  Some  months  previous  to  the  publication  of  this  statement,  the 
editor  wrote  to  one  of  the  Yearly  Meeting's  Standing  Committee, 
(who  was  also  one  of  the  last  respondents,  and  the  keeper  of  then- 
papers  in  this  case,)  requesting  the  loan  of  them  for  a  short  time  in 
order  for  the  completion  of  a  Ikir  record  of  the  whole  transaction ; 
but  could  not  obtain  them.  Hence,  some  of  their  objections  could 
not  be  so  directly  met  and  answered  ;  and  this  narrative  is  therefore 
somewhat  less  complete  than  it  would  otherwise  have  been. 


258  SUBORDINATION  TO  THE  BODY. 


ing  wholly  made  up  of  individuals,  and  bound  by  its 
constitution  and  laws  as  premised,  for  the  benefit 
and  interests  of  its  members,  as  well  as  to  protect 
theirn^te — the  responsibility,  therefore,  is  mutual. 

This  responsibiUty  rests  upon  the  whole,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  authority  or  number,  whether  of  the 
supreme  body  or  its  branches  ;  or  whether  of  indi- 
viduals. If  the  supreme  body  consist  of  a  thousand 
individuals,  its  breach  of  trust,  or  breach  of  the 
conditions  of  its  order,  (if  such  transpire,)  is  in  the 
same  proportion  greater  than  that  of  a  single  indi- 
vidual. 

If  a  branch  of  that  body  consist  of  an  hundred  in- 
dividuals, and  acts  by  the  power  of  that  number,  its 
breach  of  order  is  in  the  same  ratio  greater  than 
that  of  an  individual.  Hence,  the  perverting  or  vio- 
lating of  the  rules  of  such  association,  tending  to  the 
overthrow  of  such  body,  is  dangerous  in  direct  pro- 
portion to  the  powers  and  number  of  the  body 
which  abuses  the  rules  of  its  original  and  mutual 
stipulations. 

Thus  the  danger  attending  a  serious  disease  of 
the  head  or  the  chest,  is  vastly  greater  than  that 
which  affects  a  single  member  of  the  human  body. 
But  if  the  association  be  wholly  of  a  religious  char- 
acter, the  considerations  involved  are  of  a  higher 
order  and  of  greater  consequence, — if  purely  Chris- 
tian, Christ  presides,  and  his  law  is  the  governing 
rule  of  that  compact;  as  it  is  of  every  member  of 
it,  if  he  be  a  follower  of  Christ. 

If  such  body  be  purely  Christian,  and  so  remain, 
no  one  can  be  required  to  resign  or  forego  his  obli- 
gations to  Christ ;  nor  can  a  follower  of  Christ  vio- 
late his  law,  and  the  obligation  due  to  him,  at  the 
bidding  of  man  ; — ^nor  yet  can  a  body,  so  being  and 
so  remaining,  require  one  of  its  members  to  dis- 
regard or  violate  his  allegiance  to  Christ. 

But,  touching  the  question  of  certainty  in  ascer- 
taining the  mind  of  Truth,  and  its  pointings  (wheth- 


SUBORDINATION   TO   THE  BODY. 


259 


er  we  allude  to  the  church  or  its  members)  in  case 
of  a  loss  of  the  true  anointmg  the  early  and  spirit- 
ually endued  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
plainly  recorded  their  views  of  the  Christian  doc- 
trines, and  also  instituted  a  discipline  and  church 
government  for  the  establishment  of  doctrine  as 
well  as  practice  in  the  future  government  of  the 
church.  Such  discipline  and  such  doctrines,  ordain- 
ed of  the  Truth,  have  been  acknowledged  as  a  test 
of  faith  and  conduct  by  the  Society  for  nearly  two 
centuries. 

Whatever  body  of  men,  therefore,  whether  supe- 
rior or  subordinate,  claiming  ecclesiastical  authority, 
or  to  be  a  Yearly,  or  Quarterly  Meeting,  of  such 
Society ;  if  they  violate  and  disregard  the  rules, 
regulations  and  doctrines  of  that  Society,  in  any  im- 
portant points,  and  persist  in  it,  are  not  to  be  con- 
sidered nor  accredited  as  the  body  of  Christ,  nor 
can  they  belong  to  the  Society  of  Friends  ;  but  are 
a  spurious  body,  and  therefore  not  entitled  to  any 
authority  under  the  doctrines  and  discipline  of  the 
ancient  Society  of  Friends. 

Bodies  professing  Christianity  are  as  much  bound 
to  act  conscientiously  and  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord  as 
individuals  ;  and  if  all  the  individuals  composing 
such  bodies  so  act,  then  there  will  be  no  misrule  nor 
oppression  exercised  by  that  body ;  nor  occasion  for 
giving  or  receiving  a  plaudit  for  the  quieting  of  one 
anothers'  consciences,  nor  of  laying  plans  for  turn- 
ing away  backward  the  judgment  of  truth. 

But  it  has  been  made  to  appear  by  the  foregoing 
narration  of  facts  which  have  transpired,  that  both 
the  superior  and  inferior  bodies,  under  the  name  of 
Friends,  have  disregarded  and  trodden  down  the 
good  order  and  discipline  of  the  Society ;  and 
through  the  ruling  members  (in  whose  acts  these 
bodies  have  united,)  have  also  supported  the  author 
or  authors  of  unsound  doctrines :  and  under  these 
flagrant  abuses  it  is,  that  they  reiterate  the  cry  of 


260  SUBORDINATION  TO  THE  BODY. 


subordination  to  the  body — subordination  to  the 
body  !  !  And  no  sin  is  more  spoken  of  by  them  in 
our  hearing,  as  being  of  so  deep  a  dye,  as  insubor- 
dination to  the  body — as  insubordination  to  their 
own  wills  and  decisions  ! 

But  if  their  construction  of  the  word,  as  to  its 
meaning,  is  correct,  they  themselves  are  chargeable 
with  insubordination,  both  to  the  Doctrines  and  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  they  are  now 
called  upon  to  clear  themselves  from  this  charge ; 
and  if  they  can  do  it,  all  the  upright  will  be  made 
glad.  To  do  this,  however,  they  must  condemn 
and  revoke  their  proceedings  en  masse,  against 
South  Kingston  Monthly  Meeting  and  its  members, 
as  well  as  in  other  cases  ;  and  they  must  also  con- 
demn their  support  and  'defence  of  an  unsound 
writer.  But  this  we  know,  that  they  who  call  them- 
selves apostles  and  are  not,  and  they  who  call 
themselves  Jews  and  are  not,  (however  great  their 
number,  and  high  their  profession,)  are  not  the  body 
of  Christ,  but  are  what  He,  who  was  dead  and  is 
alive,  declares  them  to  be,  as  recorded  in  the  Reve- 
lations. See  chapter  2nd.  No  more  are  those  who 
say  they  are  Quakers  and  are  not — those  who  make 
the  profession,  but  have  denied  the  faith  by  their 
works, — we  say,  no  more  are  these  the  body  ot 
Christ ;  nor  have  they  any  more  right  to  bind  men's 
consciences  than  had  that  body  which  called  itself 
the  Church  or  the  Body  of  Christ  in  the  middle 
ages  :  touching  which  we  have  shown  that  the 
more  corrupt  the  body,  the  louder  the  cry  and  the 
more  rigorous  the  measures  to  enforce  subordina- 
tion or  obedience  to  the  desires  and  will  of  the 
body. 

This  cry  of  insubordination  to  the  body,  is  by  no 
means  new.  It  was  raised  against  those  undaunted 
worthies  who  dissented  from  the  false  doctrines  and 
corrupt  practices  of  the  Romish  Church,  and  who 
faithfully  testified  against  them ;  and  for  which  they 


SUBORDINATION  TO  THE  BODY.  261 


endured  every  species  of  persecution,  not  excepting 
death  itself. 

Again,  for  the  same  crime  the  early  Friends  were 
arraigned,  and  persecuted,  and  put  to  death.  And 
at  the  time  of  tne  Hicksite  controversy,  subordina- 
tion to  the  body  was  loudly  proclaimed  and  insisted 
on,  and  several  valuable  Friends  were  placed  under 
dealing,  and  finally  disowned  from  the  Society  for 
this  alleged  high  crime.  And  now  again  the  cry 
of  insubordination  is  raised  against  those  who  dis- 
sent from  and  testify  against  the  unsound  doctrines 
spread  abroad  among  us ;  and  these  are  in  turn 
subjected  to  the  penalty  of  deahng  and  disown- 
ment. 

Now,  let  us  deliberate  upon  this  claim  of  uncon- 
ditional subordination,  so  strongly  insisted  on  by 
the  Yearly  Meeting's  Committee  ;  and  on  their  be- 
half by  others  amongst  us ;  and  reflect  on  the  con- 
sequences to  which  it  must  inevitably  lead,  if  admit- 
ted and  acted  on  in  the  Society  of  Friends  ;  never 
heard  of  in  a  sound  and  healthy  state  of  the  Church  : 
but  if  her  condition  become  otherwise,  no  marvel 
then  that  claims  should  be  made  by  her  rulers,  for 
the  prostration  of  the  rights  of  subordinate  meet- 
ings and  individuals. 

In  coincidence  with  such  claims,  we  have  been 
told  by  prominent  men,  (employed  in  carrying  out 
this  doctrine  of  absolute  subordination  to  the  body,) 
that  it  is  our  duty  to  yield  our  opinions  to  the  body  on 
all  occasions  ;  even  if  we  know  ourselves  to  he  right, 
and  the  whole  body  to  be  wrong  ! ! 

And  then,  to  quiet  our  consciences,  they  tell  us, 
that  if  we  will  only  submit  to  all  their  dictation,  no 
blame  will  attach  to  us  ;  but  that  the  responsibility 
will  rest  upon  the  body  !  And  truly  there  appears 
to  be  no  shrinking,  on  their  part,  from  taking  such 
responsibiUty. 

This  doctrine,  if  continued  to  be  adhered  to  and 
finished,  will  undoubtedly  bring  us  directly  back 


262 


CONCLUSION. 


again  to  the  ground  maintained  by  the  Papal 
Hierarchy,  in  the  middle  ages  ;  whose  rulers  un- 
doubtedly supposed  that  their  high  standing  and 
authority  in  the  body,  and  ecclesiastical  distinc- 
tion, would  be  a  warrantee  for  whatever  they 
might  list,  and  give  credence  to  their  unrighteous 
proceedings. 

But  can  it  be  believed,  in  this  boasted  age,  that 
justice  and  judgment,  truth  and  righteousness,  will 
waive  their  claim  to  the  abuse  of  ecclesiastical  au- 
thority among  men  ?  Or  even  to  a  standing  com- 
mittee, or  to  any  deputation  whatever,  from  a  Year- 
ly Meeting  of  the  Society  under  our  name  ? 

Nay,  verily, — the  higher  the  standing  of  any  body 
of  men,  the  more  reprehensible  their  misrule  and  the 
more  displeasing  in  the  sighrt  of  God. 

CONCLUSION  : 

Containing  an  affectionate  invitation  to  all  tlie 
honest-hearted  under  our  name,  to  hold  fast  the  pro- 
fession of  the  Christian  faith,  as  recognized  and 
most  surely  believed  by  all  our  faithful  predecessors 
in  the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

In  this  concluding  address,  I  will  not  intrude  upon 
the  reader's  time  with  a  specific  recapitulation  of 
the  foregoing  proceedings,  brought  to  view  in  vindi- 
cation of  the  course  taken  in  the  support  and  de- 
fence of  Our  Christian  principles  and  discipline  ;  the 
importance  of  which  I  hope  he  will  be  enabled  duly 
to  appreciate.  But  in  this  invitation,  the  object  of 
my  desire  and  concern  is,  to  persuade  and  exhort 
all  (and  it  is  in  the  feelings  of  much  brotherly  love 
and  with  a  lively  hope)  to  be  entreated  to  come 
forward  more  and  more  in  a  practical  consumma- 
tion of  the  obedience  of  that  faith  which  leads  to 
the  saving  knowledge  of  God,  through  the  revela- 
tion of  Him  who  died  for  our  sins  and  rose  again 
for  our  recoaciliation  unto  God ;  and  who  also  was 


CONCLUSION. 


263 


and  is  and  yet  to  be,  the  Lord  from  Heaven,  a 
quickening  Spirit. 

And  first,  permit  me  to  say  to  you,  my  dear 
friends,  that  however  very  dear  to  me  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  mihtant  church,  in  a  condition 
owned  of  God  ;  yet,  (if  otherwise.)  how  much  dearer  . 
ought  to  be,  (and  not  to  me  only,  but  into  every  one 
of  her  children,)  the  love  of  God  and  the  owning  of 
his  approving  presence,  wiiich  are  the  fruits  of  the 
one  living  faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  and  in  the  funda- 
mental and  inalienable  doctrines  of  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  with  the  testimonies  and  discipline  of  the 
true  church  ;  a  faithful  conformity  whereunto 
through  obedience,  being  indispensable  as  a  test  of 
membership  in  that  body,  of  which  Christ  is  the 
Head ;  and  therefore  of  the  greatest  consequence  to 
every  one  who  would  desire  to  be  a  member  of  the 
true  church. 

And  we,  of  the  present  generation,  are  entrusted 
with  the  keeping  of  this  faith,  and  those  testimonies, 
through  our  day,  and  are  bound  by  the  strongest 
obligations,  (inasmuch  as  our  w^ay  has  been  made 
more  easy,  by  the  delivery  into  our  hands  of  these 
testimonies,  pure  and  entire,  by  our  predecessors.) 
to  act  our  part  faithfully,  through  the  Lord's  assist- 
ance, and  tender  mercies  ;  not  only  in  the  scrupu- 
lously upholding  of  them  ourselves,  through  our  day 
and  time,  as  a  righteous  standard  and  testimony  to 
all  men  ;  but  to  deliver  and  hand  them  down  to  the 
succeeding  generation,  undiminished  and  without 
abatement ;  so  that  those  who  follow  after  may  re- 
joice and  gather  strength  by  means  of  our  unflinch- 
ing uprightness  and  willingness  to  endure  all  things 
for  the  sake  of  Him  who  gave  them  to  the  church ; 
and  to  bear  the  cross  and  to  despise  the  shame,  in 
the  faithful  endurance  of  self-denial  in  this,  a  day  of 
lightly  esteeming  and  treading  down  of  the  holy 
testimony  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  which  is  the  power 
of  God  and  wisdom  of  God  ;  and  remains  to  be  a 


264 


CONCLUSION. 


mystery  whieh  has  been  hid  for  ages  from  the  wise 
and  prudent, — from  all  the  carnal  professors  of  every 
age, — but  revealed  to  the  humble,  and  the  lowly, 
and  self-denying  followers  of  the  Lamb,  of  every 
generation. 

And  the  importance,  that  we  as  a  people,  who 
have  advanced  in  the  faith  of  vital  Christianity  be- 
yond others  of  the  protestant  reformation,  should 
hold  fast  to  the  testimonies  that  we  were  at  the  first 
entrusted  with,  (and  without  the  fear  of  man,)  is 
strikingly  apparent ;  lest  we  through  a  culpable  re- 
laxation should  give  countenance  and  strength  to 
the  apostacy  of  such  other  denominations  as  are 
retrograding  into  a  sorrowful  declension  from  their 
own  first  principles,  and  thereby  should  bring  con- 
demnation upon  ourselves  on  their  account. 

How  sorrowful  will  it  be,  my  dear  Friends,  if 
we,  either  willingly  or  heedlessly  fall  irrecoverably 
into  the  degenerating  current  of  the  day,  and  with 
the  multitude  go  back  again  to  the  house  from 
whence  our  forefathers  came  out,  (through  the  cost 
of  great  tribulations,)  and  which  return  must  be  to 
the  utter  loss  of  our  own  souls,  and  to  the  great  re- 
proach of  the  holy  profession  handed  down  to  us  by 
our  worthy  predecessors  in  the  truth,  and  would  be 
crucifying  to  ourselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and 
putting  him  to  an  open  shame. 

As  reasons  for  the  goodly  exercise  of  care,  in 
watching  over  ourselves  and  guarding  the  church 
against  the  smaller  as  well  as  greater  inlets  of  a 
departure  from  sound  doctrine  and  correct  prac- 
tices, we  may  once  more  recur  to  the  view  of  things 
which  have  transpired  heretofore,  as  alluded  to  in 
the  preface  of  this  narrative,  both  in  ancient  and 
modern  times,  in  which  was  noticed  the  sad  declen- 
sion of  the  church,  under  both  dispensations,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  Lord's  statutes  and  doctrines  delivered 
to  her,  showing  that  the  former,  though  established 
of  the  Almighty  himself,  did  not  only  become  the 


CONCLUSION. 


265 


degenerate  plant  of  a  strange  vine  unto  Him,  but 
finally  persecuted  and  wickedly  put  his  messen- 
gers to  death,  and  finally  slew  the  Son  and  sent  of 
God,  before  the  measure  of  her  iniquity  was  full. 
And  that  the  latter,  even  under  the  gospel  and  name 
of  Him  wiio  came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives  but  to 
save  them,  persecuted  the  messengers  whom  he 
had  sent  to  warn  them  of  their  iniquities,  and  put 
them  to  death  without  mercy. 

And  the  question  was  asked,  and  may  again  well 
be  asked,  whether  the  church  now  is  better,  and 
more  secure  against  the  danger  of  an  apostate  con- 
dition, than  the  primitive  Christian  church  was? 
Will  it  not  be  acknowledged  that  the  same  entice- 
ments are  now  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy  as  hereto- 
fore ;  and  the  same  proneness  to  evil  in  men  now 
as  then,  to  wat,  the  love  of  pleasure — the  love  of  the 
world — the  love  of  power  and  other  degenerating 
propensities  ;  and  are  not  these  as  deadly  now^  to 
true  religion  as  they  ever  were  in  any  age  of  the 
w^orld  ? 

But  we  know  it  is  so.  Then,  Othen!  let  every 
one  gird  up  the  loins  of  his  mind,  and  w^atch — 
watch  and  pray  lest  we  enter  into  temptation,  and 
fall  by  the  subtle  delusions  of  the  wricked  one.  Oh, 
Friends  !  let  us  dwell  in  the  light  of  the  Lord,  that 
so  we  may  see  the  snares  of  the  enemy  and  avoid 
them — let  us  draw  near  and  dwell  in  Him  who  is 
light,  and  in  whom  there  is  no  darkness  at  all ;  and 
as  we  come  to  see  in  him,  the  councils  of  wisdom, 
and  are  made  to  understand  his  will,  let  us  obey, 
whether  it  be  in  acting  or  in  forbearing  to  act — 
w^hether  it  be  in  the  small  or  in  the  great  sacrifices, 
remembering  that  believing  and  obeyino-  in  the  one, 
is  the  same  in  the  sight  of  God,  as  the  believing  and 
obeying  in  the  other.  Then  despise  not  the  day  of 
small  things,  but  keep  the  convenant  of  obedience 
in  the  little  as  in  the  much,  for  the  reward  is  as  cer- 
tain in  the  one  as  in  the  other,  even  peace  and  joy  in 
12 


266 


CONCLUSION. 


the  Holy  Ghost, — for  it  is  as  we  are  faithful  in  the 
little,  that  we  shall  be  made  rulers  over  rjQore,  and  be 
prepared  to  do  more  and  more ;  and  so  shall  our 
strength  be  increased  from  less  to  more,  and  as  our 
eye  is  kept  single  to  the  light  of  the  Lord  in  our  own 
souls,  waiting  upon  Him,  and  keeping  the  word  of 
his  patience  in  that  covenant,  which  is  as  sure  by 
night  as  by  day — as  sure  in  the  night  of  trial  and 
temptation,  as  in  the  day  of  deliverance  and  re- 
joicing. Hence  faith  and  patience  in  the  disciple's 
experience,  are  a  treasure  of  great  price,  and  con- 
tribute, even  more  largely  to  his  growth  in  the 
saving  knowledge  of  God,  than  in  his  more  joyous 
seasons  of  feasting  upon  the  good  things  of  his 
Master's  table. 

Zion  can  only  be  redeemed  through  judgment, 
and  her  converts  by  righteousness ; — by  being 
plunged  into  the  river  of  judgment :  this  must  be 
known  in  the  experience  of  every  member  of  the 
true  church.  He  must  witness  the  sanctifying  bap- 
tism and  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  immutable 
justice  towards  all  men,  must  be  the  obvious  char- 
acteristic of  his  life  and  conversation,  showing  mer- 
cy to  others  as  he  would  desire  God  would  show 
mercy  to  him.  And  in  so  walking  in  the  fear  of  the 
Lord,  it  is  only  that  we  evince  by  our  fruits,  that 
we  love  Him  above  all,  and  our  neighbor  as  our- 
selves. 

By  the  inward  operation  of  the  judgment  and 
power  of  God,  it  is,  that  the  members  are  instructed 
and  prepared  for  service  in  the  church — to  be  way- 
marks  and  ensamples  to  all  men. 

And  among  the  many  and  important  services  as- 
signed to  the  members  respectively,  there  are  none 
peradventure  of  greater  usefulness,  or  of  a  higher 
order,  than  that  of  the  gospel  ministry — a  service, 
than  which,  none  has  been  more  grossly  abused — 
than  which,  no  one  has  been  more  sacrilegiously 
counterfeited.    If  true  and  apostolic,  not  received 


CONCLUSION. 


267 


of  man  nor  by  man,  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ — as  such,  it  is  a  great  blessing  to  the  church 
— if  false,  and  learned  only  of  man  and  by  man,  and 
should  prevail  in  the  body  under  our  name,  it  will 
prove  an  unfailing  means  of  a  degeneracy  and 
estrangement  from  God,  and  a  lapse  into  dead  for- 
mality;  and  greatly  tend  to  draw  away /row 
God  unto  men. 

So  far  as  we  know,  the  Society  of  Friends  is  the 
only  people,  among  all  the  Christian  denominations, 
sTnce  the  primitive  ages,  who  profess  to  preach  the 
gospel  only  as  the  Spirit  giveth  utterance — who 
wait  for  the  promise  of  the  Father  on  all  occasions 
as  Christ  taught  his  disciples,  to  wit : — who  believe 
it  requisite  to  tarry  until  they  be  endued  with  power 
from  on  high,  before  they  attempt  to  preach  in 
God's  great  and  holy  name. 

Hence  the  testimony  of  Friends,  touching  this 
high  and  holy  calling,  is  at  this  day  the  most  primi- 
tive, noble  and  dignified  testimony  in  the  world, 
being  the  only  one  which  recognizes  a  sensible,  di- 
rect intercourse  and  communication  between  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  ;  or  in  other  words,  from 
God  to  the  children  of  men. 

Inasmuch,  then,  as  the  Society  of  Friends  are  the 
only  people  who  hold  fast  to  the  faith,  that  Christi- 
anity itself  has  not  diminished,  nor  fallen  off,  nor  its 
gifts  and  graces  been  withdrawn  from  the  true 
church,  since  the  day  when  the  Lord  told  his  disci- 
ples, that  the  Spirit  which  should  succeed  his  per- 
sonal presence  with  them,  should  instruct  them  in 
all  things,  and  bring  all  things  to  their  remembrance  ; 
or  since  the  day  when  he  promised  that  he  would 
abide  with  them  for  ever,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world  : — how  desirable  and  indispensable  for  us,  in 
the  fulfillment  of  ancient  prophecy,  "  they  shall  all 
know  me,"  &c.,  and  for  the  unspeakable  benefit  of 
the  church,  as  well  as  of  the  world  at  large,  that  we 
hold  fast  the  profession  of  this  faith  without  waver- 


268 


CONCLUSION. 


ing — this  faith  of  the  continued  dispensation  of  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  unto  them  who  wait  for  him 
in  sincerity  and  humility,  and  believe  in  his  power. 

But  this  gift  of  God's  grace  and  Holy  Spirit,  is  by 
no  means  exclusively  given  to  gospel  ministers,  but 
flows  from  the  Vine,  which  is  the  fountain  of  life, 
to  every  living  branch; — from  Christ  to  every 
member  of  his  body.  And  all  the  true  members, 
whatever  their  respective  callings  are,  as  their 
hearts  are  open  to  receive,  are  by  the  anointing  of 
his  Spirit  taught  and  instructed  to  fulfil  their  duties 
and  callings  conformable  to  the  will  of  God,  and  are 
blessed  with  immediate  access  to  him,  through  the 
mediation  of  Christ,  and  without  the  intervention  of 
any  man. 

And  it  is  as  impossible  for  the  church  of  Christ  to  re- 
main such,  and  to  be  a  living  body,  without  the  savor 
and  circulation  of  the  Spirit  and  life  of  Christ,  as  for 
a  tree  to  remain  green  and  fruitful  without  the  cir- 
culation of  sap  and  nourishment  from  the  root  and 
from  the  body  ;  or  as  for  a  man  to  exist  in  the  vigor 
of  life,  without  the  circulation  from  the  heart,  of 
that  blood  which  is  the  life  of  man. 

But  to  return  to  the  exercise  of  the  gospel  minis- 
try. I  feel  concerned  to  exhort  all,  who  are  called 
to  that  solemn  service,  faithfully  and  patiently  to 
wait,  and  to  rely  on  Him  alone  who  is  the  Great 
Minister  of  the  sanctuary  and  true  tabernacle  which 
God  hath  pitched  and  not  man,  both  for  the  opening 
and  the  shutting, — for  strength, — for  mouth  and 
wisdom — tongue  and  utterance.  And,  above  all 
things,  having  no  confidence  in  themselves,  or  in 
the  endowment  of  man's  wisdom  ;  but  tarry,  I  en- 
treat you,  (as  you  would  desire  your  own  further- 
ance, and  that  of  your  brethren,)  tarry  at  Jerusalem 
until  ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high ;  for 
under  the  dominion  of  this  power,  (it  only  is)  as  it  is 
waited  for  in  the  simplicity  and  integrity  of  the 
soul,  that  the  work  will  prosper  and  bring  peace 


CONCLUSION. 


269 


and  joy  to  those  who  are  thus  exercised  in  it :  and 
will  redound  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  consola- 
tion of  his  people,  whether  the  measure  of  the  gift 
be  less  or  more.  Never,  O  never !  let  the  desire 
for  words,  either  in  yourselves  or  in  others,  beguile 
you  into  an  unsanctified  offering — beguile  you  into 
a  spurious  ministry,  or  the  offering  of  strange  fire. 
Oh!  how  lamentable  the  condition  of  those  where  a 
lifeless  ministry  prevails !  How  deadening  to  an 
assembly  of  Quaker  worshippers,  for  if  it  come  not 
from  God,  though  it  may  please  the  ear,  or  lead  to 
head  knowledge,  it  is  no  better  than  a  sounding 
brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal  !  How  much  better  in 
the  sight  of  God,  and  for  the  church,  is  silent  wor- 
ship, than  the  annoyance  of  a  spurious  ministry  ! 

The  skill  and  artifice  of  man,  in  framing  a  beau- 
tiful discourse,  if  it  be  but  in  man's  wisdom  and 
learning,  contributes  no  more  to  the  honor  of  God, 
or  the  salvation  of  souls,  than  would  man's  sagacity 
in  forming  a  beautiful  image  of  things  above  or 
things  below :  he  can,  of  himself,  no  more  breathe 
the  breath  of  life  into  the  one  than  into  the  other. 
And  without  a  portion  of  the  Divine  life,  which  is 
the  gift  of  God  and  testimony  of  Jesus,  preaching  is 
no  more  saving,  than  any  other  mere  image  of  good 
things. 

Hence  the  necessity  that  Christ's  ministers,  seeing 
they  are  but  men,  should  abide  with  the  Lord  Jesus 
in  the  inner  court  of  the  heart,  and  "  with  him  in  his 
tribulations,  that  so  they  may  know  of  his  doctrines," 
and  how  to  preach  them, — that  they  may  be  in- 
structed in  the  counsel  of  his  will,  for  it  is  here,  in  the 
heart,  that  "  whatsoever  is  to  be  known  of  him  is 
made  manifest," — pertaining  to  his  own  glorious 
kingdom  and  the  salvation  of  souls  ;  which  is  at 
times  made  known  to  the  messengers  of  his  cove- 
nant, for  their  own  qualification  to  minister,  and  for 
the  watering  and  refreshing  of  "  those  who  serve 
him,"  as  well  as  for  the  reproof  and  instruction  of 


270 


CONCLUSION. 


"  those  who  serve  him  not "  to  his  own  holy  and 
blessed  acceptance. 

And  it  is  only  by  patiently  enduring  the  baptism 
of  Christ  and  of  his  judgments,  to  the  subjugation  of 
the  will  of  the  flesh  in  themselves,  that  they  can  be 
good  stewards  of  the  manifold  grace  of  God,  and 
iully  prepared  to  divide  the  word  aright  among  his 
people,  and  clearly  to  discern  between  the  precious 
and  the  vile,  under  whatever  covering  such  states 
may  exist,  or  under  whatever  appearance  or  pro- 
fessions men  may  make ;  these  true  messengers  of 
Christ,  will  not  be  misled,  by  what  men  have  been, 
or  by  what  they  now  profess  to  be. 

Wherefore,  my  dear  fellow-pilgrims  in  this  high 
calhng  of  God,  grudge  not,  I  beseech  you,  the  con- 
flict, or  the  reproaches,  of -drinking  deeply  of  the 
Saviour's  bitter  cup,  nor  the  endurance  of  his  fiery 
baptisms,  (for  his  own  received  him  not,  but  slew 
him,  and  denied  him,)  seeing  that  so  great  salvation 
is  the  result  of  suffering,  and  awaits  the  faithful  and 
unflinching  labors  of  those  who  are  prepared  by  the 
ordeal  of  his  power;  and  who  have  labored  and 
have  not  fainted,  and  who  have  borne  the  burden 
through  the  heat  of  the  day.  And  remember  who 
it  was,  and  from  whence  they  came,  whom  John 
saw  round  about  the  throne  of  God,  who  had  washed 
their  robes  and  had  made  them  white  in  the  blood 
of  the  Lamb. 

And  oh  !  that  all  under  our  name  of  all  classes, 
who  name  the  name  of  Jesus,  may  never  name  Him 
unworthily  or  deceitfully,  but,  by  departing  from 
all  iniquity,  might  honor  him,  having  his  fear  al- 
ways before  their  eyes,  walking  in  all  humility  and 
lowliness  before  him,  that  so  their  example  may  do 
honor  to  the  high  and  holy  name  of  the  Great  Au- 
thor of  our  salvation,  and  to  the  exalted  profession 
we  are  making  among  men. 

And  how,  above  all  things,  is  the  Christian's  ex- 
perience in  that  power  of  God  which  overcomes 


CONCLUSION. 


271 


the  world,  enlarged,  by  frequently  and  continually 
seeking  and  feeling  after  him  with  the  whole  heart, 
undivided  and  unreserved.  Oh  !  fellow-probationer, 
forget  not  thy  morning  oblation,  before  thy  heSd  is 
raised  from  thy  pillow,  but  approach  the  altar  of 
his  sacrifices  in  thine  own  heart,  for  thou  mayest 
there  witness  in  the  silence  of  celestial  excellence, 
the  flame  of  his  love  and  holy  presence  to  kindle 
upon  thy  offering :  and  then  when  thou  goest  by  the 
way,  He  will  also  go  along  with  thee,  and  when 
thou  lie  St  down  he  will  keep  thee,  and  as  thy  de- 
sires are  unto  him,  he  will  bless  thy  evening  sacri- 
fices :  and  again,  when  thy  slumbers  are  broken,  in 
the  silent  watches  of  the  night,  then  let  not  thy 
thoughts  go  astray  upon  things  that  perish,  but 
keep  and  gather  them  inward,  and  stay  them  upon 
Him  whose  presence  fills  the  universe  ;  and  he  will 
become  to  thee  the  chiefest  among  ten  thousand. 
But  when  he  delayeth  to  come  unto  thee,  then  fast- 
ing and  mourning  will  be  thy  lot ;  and  "  great 
searching  of  heart,"  and  fearful  enquiry,  why  he  has 
forsaken  thee,  and  whether  thou  hast  not  sinned 
against  him,  and  gone  backward,  and  left  thy  first 
love  !  Oh  !  this  is  the  way  by  which  all  the  holy 
men  of  old,  and  our  worthy  predecessors  gained 
the  experience  of  the  knowledge  and  way  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  if  thou  would  gain  a  heavenly  treasure 
like  theirs,  and  follow  their  footsteps,  to  a  blessed 
establishment  in  the  unchangeable  truth,  then  be 
faithful  and  relax  not  from  a  daily  exercise  in  seek- 
ing Him,  and  staying  thy  mind  upon  him  ;  girding 
up  thy  loins  and  watching  for  the  morning,  possess- 
ing thy  soul  in  the  patience  of  God ;  confessing  to 
him  thy  sins  and  short  comings,  and  asking  for- 
V  giveness  through  Him  who  is  the  Mediator  of  God's 
covenant  for  reconciliation  with  thee  :  and  behold 
he  will,  when  it  please  him,  and  in  the  right  time, 
Kliorten  and  dispel  the  hour  and  power  of  darkness 
and  distress,  and  cause  the  true  light  again  ta  shine 


272 


CONCLUSION. 


into  thy  soul  and  round  about  thee,  and  will  again 
arise  himself  with  power  and  great  glory,  as  from 
the  gloom  of  the  sepulchre,  and  will  cause  thy  soul 
to  rise  with  him,  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of 
praise. 

Thus  described  is  some  of  the  true  Christian's 
experience,  and  the  practical  ground  of  his  coming 
to  the  saving  knowledge  of  God,  through  the  reve- 
lation of  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  means  of  keeping 
a  single  eye  to  the  light,  and  watching  unto  prayer 
without  ceasing,  whereby  the  mind  is  stayed  and 
kept  alive  unto  God,  and  preserved  in  the  hour  of 
temptation,  and  from  being  seduced  and  led  away 
"  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,"  as  mere  superficial 
professors  are. 

Hence,  when  this  blessed 'experience  is  attained 
and  abode  in  by  a  follower  of  Christ,  his  mind  will 
not  be  beguiled  with  false  doctrines  or  misled  by 
designing  men,  though  such  doctrines  be  preached 
in  the  eloquence  of  the  wisest,  or  even  by  an  angel 
from  heaven,  because  the  witness  is  in  himself,  and 
this  witness  for  God  will  evermore,  as  do  the  holy 
Scriptures,  contradict  and  deny  ail  false  and  delu- 
sive doctrine,  because  the  disciple  dwells  with  him 
who  is  light,  and  in  whom  there  is  no  darkness  at 
all.  And  therefore  thus  abiding  in  the  light,  no 
man  can  deceive  him,  nor  yet  the  wicked  one, 
hough  he  might  assume  the  appearance  of  an  angel 
of  light. 

But  when  men  begin  to  hate  the  light,  and  to  de- 
part from  it,  because  their  deeds  are  become  evil, 
then  their  vision  is  darkened,  and  they  can  scarcely 
distinguish  between  an  ignus  fatus,  or  the  coun- 
terfeit radiance  of  the  fallen  angel,  from  the  clear 
shining  of  the  light  of  the  Lord,  and  are  therefore 
exposed  to  the  imposition  of  false  doctrines  proffer- 
ed to  them  in  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  by  his  de- 
ceitful working,  and  by  his  transformations  are  un- 
distinguished by  those  "  whose  vision  is  not  clear." 


CONCLUSION. 


273 


How  lamentable  the  condition  of  those,  viewing 
things  as  they  do,  with  a  clouded  imagination,  or 
through  an  inverted  medium,  and  therefore  are  led 
to  call  light  darkness,  and  darkness  light ;  good,  evil ; 
and  evil,  good  ;  just  like  the  same  sort  of  people  in 
the  prophet's  time.  Here  we  see  the  great  powers 
of  transformation  in  the  hands  of  the  wicked  one. 
And  never  better  pleased  was  he,  as  would  appear, 
nor  his  kingdom  better  served  in  any  age,  than  by 
his  success  in  alluring  and  beguiling  the  servants 
of  the  Lord,  to  become  and  to  be  his  servants  ;  and 
the  more  eminent  in  their  former  station  the  more 
so  in  the  latter,  as  fully  demonstrated  by  events 
which  have  transpired. 

And  how  deplorable  the  state  of  those  who  are 
transformed  from  the  image  of  God  to  a  condition 
of  unrighteousness — from  the  love  of  God  to  the 
love  of  the  world — from  the  fear  of  God  to  the  fear 
of  man,  and  the  desire  of  pleasing  God  exchanged 
for  a  greater  desire  of  pleasing  men. 

A  condition  in  which  man  is  ashamed  acceptably 
to  acknowledge  the  Redeemer  before  a  man  who 
shall  die,  and  the  son  of  man  who  shall  perish. 

Of  those  who  regard  men  more  than  they  regard 
Him,  he  will  be  ashamed  before  his  Father  and  the 
holy  angels,  and  will  not  therefore  be  a  mediator 
between  them  and  their  God,  whom  they  have  des- 
pised, and  have  more  lightly  esteemed  Him  than 
they  have  esteemed  men. 

With  such  there  must  be  a  fearful  looking  for  of 
judgment,  and  the  righteous  indignation  of  God's 
displeasure,  because  they  have  more  lightly  esteem- 
ed the  favor  of,  and  fear  of  God,  than  the  persons 
and  friendship  of  men,  which  is  idolatry  and  great 
offence  in  His  sight. 

Our  Lord  and  Saviour  describes  the  contrast  be- 
tween the  fear  of  man  and  the  fear  of  God  in  a  very 
striking  manner,  and  gives  forth  His  command  to 
fear  God  rather  than  man,  in  despite  of  the  utmost 
12* 


274 


CONCLUSION. 


that  man  can  do :  "  Fear  not  them  that  kill  the  body, 
and  after  that  have  no  moje  that  they  can  do  ;  but 
I  will  forewarn  you,  whom  ye  ought  to  fear — fear 
Him  who  after  he  hath  killed,  hath  power  to  cast 
into  hell,"  and  emphatically  adds,  "  Yea,  I  say  unto 
you,  fear  Him."  And  this  command  stands  unabat- 
ed, and  is  as  obligatory  on  us  as  on  his  followers  in 
that  dq.y. 

Although  men  now  have  not  power,  by  the  laws 
of  the  land,  to  kill  the  body,  or  to  take  men's  Uves 
on  account  of  their  fidelity  to  God,  yet  there  are 
those  who  have  power  and  disposition  to  persecute, 
and  to  take  from  us  that  which  had  been  almost  as 
dear  as  life  itself  to  us — our  places,  our  rights,  and 
our  privileges  in  the  outward  visible  church.  A 
process  plainly  distinguishable  from  the  law  of 
Christ,  as  will  appear  by  a  recurrence  to  the  pat- 
tern of  church  government,  as  wel]  as  the  doctrines 
received  and  acknowledged  aforetime  by  the  whole 
body,  under  the  acknowledged  guidance  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ. 

Therefore,  when  those  who  teach  us  doctrines, 
and  hold  the  rein  of  church  government  over  us, 
shall  have  unhappily  departed  from  that  pattern, 
then  fear  them  not,  nor  reverence  them,  for  they 
will  begin  to  deny  the  Master's  coming,  and  to 
beat  the  men  servants  and  the  maid  servants,  and 
to  lord  it  over  the  heritage  of  God. 

Now,  here  is  the  difference,  those  who  are  or- 
dained of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  teach  and  to  rule  in  his 
church,  are  both  to  be  regarded  and  honored,  so 
long  as  they  rule  in  righteousness.  But  when  their 
garments  become  defiled  with  enmity  or  the  love 
of  power,  or  the  love  of  filthy  lucre,  or  their  eye  be- 
come evil,  then  their  hearts  are  become  dark,  and 
their  hands  full  of  oppression,  and  their  arm  but  an 
arm  of  flesh.  And  he  that  continueth  to  transfer  to 
them  the  honor  which  only  belongeth  unto  God,  or 
to  trust  in  them,  is  accursed  of  the  Lord,  though 


CONCLUSION, 


275 


they  may  shine  as  stars  of  great  magnitude  over 
the  tabernacles  of  Esau  ;  they  are  no  longer  to  be 
called  by  the  name  of  Jacob,  nor  surnamed  by  the 
name  of  Israel,  so  long  as  they  disregard  Israel's 
statutes  and  testimonies. 

Hence  we  see  the  necessity  of  wisdom  from 
above,  and  a  clear  discernment  of  the  states  and  con- 
ditions of  men,  aside  from  prepossession,  favor  or 
friendship;  aside  from  relationship  and  all  former 
estimations,  outward  circumstances  or  outward  ap- 
pearances :  and  aside  too  from  the  estimation  of 
others.  When  the  condition  of  men  is  seen  in  the 
light,  and  their  views,  practices  and  motives  are  not 
answerable  to  the  pattern  as  above,  then  let  the 
loyal  disciple  of  him  in  whom  there  is  no  shadow  of 
turning,  and  who  is  to  give  account,  and  bear  a 
faithful  testimony  against  such  in  all  meekness  and 
lowliness,  move  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  trust  in 
his  providence  and  power,  and  then  he  has  nothing 
to  fear  from  men,  nor  from  a  host  of  the  mighty,  for 
as  he  so  continue  and  abide  in  the  "everlasting 
patience  in  the  secret  place  of  the  Almighty,  whose 
refuge  will  be  round  about  him,  and  his  banner 
over  him  ;  and  for  all  the  sufferings,  revilings  and 
evil  reports  which  he  shall  have  to  endure,  the  re- 
ward from  his  blessed  Master's  hand  will  be  an  hun- 
dred fold  in  this  present  world,  and  that  which  is 
to  come,  everlasting  life. 

And  the  writer  is  induced  to  believe,  through  the 
opening  of  truth,  that  a  remnant  will  be  spared  from 
the  "  flood  of  mighty  waters  overflowing,"  whilst 
"  the  beauty  which  is  on  the  head  of  the  fat  valley 
shall  be  a  fading  flower,  and  as  the  hasty  fruit  be- 
fore the  summer,  which  when  he  that  looketh  upon  it, 
seeth  ;  while  it  is  yet  in  his  hand  he  eateth  it  up." 
"  In  that  day  shall  the  Lord  of  hosts  be  for  a  crown 
of  glory,  and  for  a  diadem  of  beauty  unto  the  resi- 
due of  His  people,  and  for  a  spirit  of  judgment  to 
him  that  sitteth  in  judgment,  and  for  strength  to 


276 


CONCLUSION. 


them  that  turn  the  battle  to  the  gate,  and  many- 
shall  run  to  and  fro,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord 
shall  be  increased,  and  judgment  shall  run  down  as 
waters,  and  righteousness  as  a  river — the  wilder- 
ness shall  become  as  Eden,  and  the  desert  as  the  gar- 
den of  the  Lord.  Aliens  shall  be  thy  ploughmen, 
and  strangers  shall  stand  and  feed  the  flock,  and 
nations  that  knew  not  thee  shall  run  unto  thee  be- 
cause of  the  Lord  thy  God." 

It  has  been  seen  by  divers  of  the  Lord's  messen- 
gers in  our  Israel,  both  earlier  and  later,  that  a  great 
declension  and  sifting  time  would  take  place  among 
us,  and  that  a  remarkable  reformation  and  better 
day  would  succeed. 

The  former  we  have  already  seen  sorrowfully  to 
have  been  progressing,  in  a  departure  from  truth's 
testimonies  and  doctrines,  by  the  insidious  work- 
ing of  the  enemy,  drawing  away  from  the  true  faith, 
both  on  the  light  hand  and  on  the  left.  And  is  believ- 
ed that  the  day  is  near,  (if  the  Lord's  purposes  are 
not  frustrated  through  fear  or  unfaithfulness  in  these 
who  have  been  spared  and  called  to  begin  the  work,) 
when  the  foregoing  declarations  of  the  prophets  will 
he  verified  and  fulfilled  in  the  succession  of  faithful 
messengers  and  standard  bearers,  and  of  a  better 
day;  and  of  the  advancement  and  upholding  of 
truth's  dignified  testimonies  to  the  honor  of  God's 
great,  and  glorious,  and  holy  name. 

JOHN  WILBUR. 

Hopkinton,  R.  L,  1st  month  16th,  1845. 


APPENDIX, 


CONTAINING  A 


COMPARISON  OF  SOME   OF  THE  DOCTRINAL  VIEWS 


OF 

J.  J.  GURNEY, 

WITH  THOSE    OF    SEVERAL    STANDARD    WRITERS  AMONG 
THE  EARLY  FRIENDS,  AND   SEVERAL  TESTIMONIES 
AND  LETTERS  RELATIVE 

TO  THE 


DOCTRINES  AND  CONDITION 


OF  THE 


SOCIETY  OF  FRIENDS. 


"  I  am  satisfied  that  there  is  a  spirit  at  work,  which  would  lay  waste 
the  ancient  profession  and  doctrines  of  our  religious  Society,  and  draw 
Friends  away  from  the  spirituality  of  that  which  they  have  once 
known,  and  many  are  catched  with  it." — {Jonathan  Evans'  Memo- 
rials of  deceased  Friends.   Published  1842.  pagell.) 

"  I  let  him  know  that  I  did  not  consider  it  unfriendly,  or  contrary  to 
Discipline,  to  make  a  statement  of  the  doctrines  he  published,  as  I  con- 
sidered it  as  a  species  of  public  property. — {Joseph  WhitalVs  Conversa- 
tion with  Elias  Hicks.  See  Foster' s  Reports,  p.  215.) 


APPENDIX,  &c. 


OF  THE  TRUE  SOURCE   OF   ALL  DIVINE  KNOWLEDGE. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Portable  Evidences,  p.  31):  "Now 
the  information  which  the  Bible  gives,  respecting  the 
Supreme  Being,  whether  considered  as  a  harmonious 
whole,  or  viewed  in  its  principal  details,  is  to  be  found 
originally  in  the  Bible  alone.'' 

(id.  p.  35.)  *'  It  is  the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  ojily,  which. 
declares  a  standard  of  morals,  universally  applicable  to 
our  need,  and  liable  to  no  changre." 

(p.  101.)  "  Now  it  is  in  the  Scriptures  only  that  the 
attributes  of  our  Heavenly  Father  are  fully  made  known 
to  us." 

(Address  to  the  Mechanics  of  Manchester,  p.  6.) 
"  This  delightful  science  [Geology]  has  done  much  to 
confirm  the  Scripture  record,  and  to  complete  that 
natural  proof  of  a  Supreme  intelligent  Being,  on  which 
all  religion  hinges.'" 

Contrast  the  above  with 

Robert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  II,  p.  17) :  "  Seeing  no 
man  knoweth  the  Father  but  the  Son,  and  he  to  whom 
the  Son  revealeth  Him  ;  and  seeing  the  revelation  of 
the  Son  is  in  and  by  the  Spirit ;  therefore  the  testimony 
of  the  Spirit  is  that  alone  by  which  the  true  knowledge 
of  G«^dhath  been,  is,  and  can  be  only  revealed." 

(p.  20.)  **  For  the  better  understanding,  then,  of  this 
proposition,  we  do  distinguish  betwixt  the  certain 


280 


APPENDIX. 


knowledge  of  God,  and  the  uncertain;  betwixt  the 
spiritual  knowledge  and  the  literal',  the  saving  heart 
knowledge,  and  the  soaring  head  knowledge.  The 
last,  we  confess,  may  be  divers  ways  obtained  ;  but 
the  first,  by  no  other  way  than  the  inward  immediate 
manifestation  and  revelation  of  God's  Spirit,  shining  in 
and  upon  the  heart,  enlightening  and  opening  the  un- 
derstanding. None  have  any  true  ground  to  believe 
they  have  attained  it,  who  have  it  not  by  this  revela- 
tion of  God's  Spirit." 

(p.  26.)  I  would,  however,  not  be  understood,  as  if 
hereby  I  excluded  those  other  means  of  knowledge 
from  any  use  or  service  to  man  ;  it  is  far  from  me  so 
to  judge,  as,  concerning  the  Scriptures,  in  the  next 
proposition  will  more  plainly  appear.  The  question  is 
not,  what  may  be  profitable  or  helpful,  but  what  is  ab- 
solutely necessary.  Many  things  may  contribute  to 
further  a  work,  which  yet  are  not  the  main  thing  that 
makes  the  work  go  on.  The  sum,  then,  of  what  is 
said,  amounts  to  this  :  that  where  the  true  inward 
knowledge  of  God  is,  through  the  revelation  of  his 
Spirit,  there  is  all ;  neither  is  there  an  absolute  neces- 
sity of  any  other.  But  where  the  best,  highest,  and 
most  profound  knowledge  is,  without  this,  there  is 
nothing,  as  to  the  obtaining  the  great  end  of  salvation." 

William  Venn  (Rise  and  Progress,  p.  27) :  "  I  have 
already  touched  upon  their  fundamental  principle, 
which  is  as  the  corner  stone  of  their  fabric  ;  and  indeed, 
to  speak  eminently  and  properly,  their  characteristic, 
or  main  distinguishing  point  or  principle,  viz  :  the  light 
of  Christ  within,  as  God's  gift  for  man's  salvation. 
This,  I  say,  is  as  the  root  of  the  goodly  tree  of  doc- 
trines that  grew  and  branched  out  from  it,  which  I 
shall  now  mention,"  &c.  &c. 

George  Fox  (Journal,  Leeds  edit.  Vol.  I.  p.  92) :  My 
desires  after  the  Lord  grew  stronger,  and  zeal  in  the 
'pure  knowledge  of  God,  and  of  Christ  alone,  without 
the  help  of  any  man,  book  or  writing.  For  though  I 
read  the  Scriptures  that  spoke  of  Christ  and  of  God  ; 


APPENDIX. 


281 


yet  Iknew  him  not,  hut  hy  revelation,  as  He  who  hath  the 
key  did  open,  and  as  the  Father  of  Life  drew  me  to  his 
Son  by  his  Spirit." 

William  Penn  (Pref.  to  Prim.  Christ.  Revived) :  "By 
this  short  ensuing  treatise,  thou  wilt  perceive  the  sub- 
ject of  it,  viz  :  the  light  of  Christ  in  man,  as  the  mani- 
festation of  God's  love  for  man's  happiness  ;  now,  for- 
asmuch as  this  is  the  peculiar  testimony  and  character- 
istic of  the  people  called  Quakers  ;  their  great  funda- 
mental in  religion;  that  by  which  they  have  been  dis- 
tinguished from  other  professors  of  Christianity  in  their 
time,  and  to  which  they  refer  all  people  about  faith, 
worship,  and  practice,  both  in  their  ministry  and 
writings  ;  that  as  the  fingers  shoot  out  of  the  hand,  and 
the  branches  from  the  body  of  the  tree,  so  true  religion, 
in  all  the  parts  and  articles  of  it,  springs  from  this  di- 
vine principle  in  man . " 

FAITH. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essays,  p.  345.  6  Amer.  edit.) :  Were 
I  the  most  solitary  of  hermits,  or  cast,  like  the  ship- 
wrecked mariner,  on  an  uninhabited  island,  I  could  not 
live  at  all,  did  I  not,  in  a  multitude  of  instances,  exer- 
cise the  principle  of  faith.  I  must  be  led  about  by 
probabilities. 

**  But  it  is  in  social  and  civil  life,  more  particularly, 
that  the  principle  faith  is  called  into  action,  and  every 
one  who  has  reflected  on  the  subject,  must  be  well 
aware,  that  were  it  not  for  the  willing  admission  of 
those  things  which  are  not  philosoj^hically  certain,  but 
only  in  various  degrees  probable,  and  more  especially 
for  a  due  reliance  on  testimony,  the  whole  frame  work 
of  society  would  be  disorganized  and  subverted.  Faith 
is  an  indispensable  link  in  that  mighty  chain  of  divine 
wisdom  and  providence,  which  binds  together  man  to 
man,  family  to  family,  and  nation  to  nation  :  and  with- 
out it,  there  could  be  no  order  or  union  in  the  intel- 
lectual part  of  God's  visible  creation.    Such  being  the ' 


282 


APPENDIX. 


State  of  the  case,  there  can  be  nothing  opposed  to  true 
reason  and  philosophy  in  the  perfectly  corresponding 
fact,  that  under  the  moral  and  spiritual  government  of 
God,  and  in  order  to  that  religious  life  which  is  alone 
productive  of  eternal  happiness,  men  are  required  to 
bring  the  smne  principle  into  action,  and  to  regulate 
their  dispositions  and  conduct  not  merely  by  their 
knowledge  of  that  which  is  certain,  but  more  especially 
and  more  extensively  by  their  belief  of  that  which  is 
probable." 

(p.  3.^3.)  "Faith  draws  near  unto  that  God  whom 
reason  has  discovered,"  &c. — but  as  long  as  these  noble 
JacuUiesof  the  human  mind  are  kept,"  &c. 

(p.  357.)  '*  It  is  a  reliance  of  the  soul,  on  the  incarnate 
Son,  who  conducts  the  great  scheme  appointed  for  our 
salvation." 

(p.  359.)  "  Although  this  trust  in  God  may,  through 
grace,  be  exercised  by  persons  who  possess  no  other  in- 
formation on  divine  subjects,  than  that  which  they 
derive  from  natural  religion,  yet  the  declarations  of 
Scripture  respecting  faith,  have  been,  in  all  ages,  ad- 
dressed to  that  part  of  mankind,  who  have  enjoyed  the 
light  of  an  outward  revelation.^'' 

(p.  3(30.)  "  This  faith  is  the  means  through  which  we 
receive  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  whom  we  are  regenerated 
and  sanctified.  Lastly,  a  saving  faith  in  Jesus  is  not 
merely  intellectual,  it  springs  from  the  hearty  works  by 
love,  gradually  accepts  the  Saviour  in  all  his  offices,  and 
gently  constrains  the  Christian  to  take  up  his  daily  cross 
and  follow  Christ." 

(Address  to  Mechanics  of  Manchester,  p.  7) :  "  But 
you  ask  me  on  what  moral  and  religious  knowledge 
is  founded  %  I  answer,  on  that  ivhich  is  the  basis  of  every 
other  branch  of  knowledge — belief 

Contrast  the  above  with 

Robert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  II.  pp.  33  &  34,  Ameri- 
can edit.)  :  "  The  fourth  thing  affirmed  is,  that  these 
revelations  [the  immediate  revelation  of  Christ  by  the 
Holy  Spirit]  were  the  objects  of  the  saints'  faith  of  old. 


APPENDIX. 


283 


This  will  easily  appear  by  the  definition  of  faith,  and 
considering  what  its  object  is  ;  for  which  we  shall  not 
dive  into  the  curious  and  various  notions  of  the  school- 
men, but  stay  on  the  plain  and  positive  words  of  the 
apostle  Paul,  who  (Heb.  xi.)  describes  it  two  ways : 
*  Faith  (saith  he)  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for, 
the  evidence  of  things  not  seen  ;'  which,  as  the  apostle 
illustrateth  it  in  the  same  chapter  by  many  examples,  is 
no  other  but  a  firm  and  certain  belief  of  the  mind, 
whereby  it  resteth,  and  in  a  sense  possesseth  the  sub- 
stance of  some  things  hoped  for,  through  its  confidence 
in  the  promise  of  God ;  and  thus  the  soul  hath  a  7nost 
firm  evidence^  by  its  faith,  of  things  not  yet  seen  or  come 
to  pass.  The  object  of  this  faith  is  the  pro?mse,  word, 
ox  testimony  of  God,  speaking  in  the  mind.  Hence  it 
hath  been  generally  afiirmed,  that  the  object  of  faith  is 
DeiLS  loquens,  &c.,  that  is,  G-od  speaking,  &c.,  which  is 
also  manifest  from  all  those  examples  deduced  by  the 
apostle  throughout  that  whole  chapter,  whose  faith  was 
founded  neither  upon  any  outward  testimony,  nor  upon 
the  voice  or  writing  of  man,  but  upon  the  revelation  of 
G-od's  -will  manifest  unto  them  and  in  them."' 

(p.  37.)  Moreover,  if  the  faith  of  the  ancients  were 
not  one  and  the  same  with  ours,  i.  e.  agreeing  in  sub- 
stance therewith,  and  receiving  the  same  definition,  it 
had  been  impertinent  for  the  apostle  (Heb.  xi.)  to  have 
illustrated  the  definition  of  our  faith  by  the  examples  of 
that  of  the  ancients,  or  to  go  about  to  move  us  by  the 
example  of  Abraham,  if  Abraham's  faith  were  different 
in  nature  from  ours.  Nor  doth  any  difference  arise 
hence,  because  they  believed  in  Christ  with  respect  to 
his  appearance  outwardly  as  future,  and  we  as  already 
appeared  ;  for  neither  did  they  then  so  believe  in  him 
to  come,  as  not  to  feel  him  presefit  with  them,  and  wit- 
ness him  near ;  seeing  the  apostle  saith,  '  They  all 
drank  of  that  spiritual  rock  which  followed  them,  which 
rock  was  Christ;  nor  do  we  so  believe  concerning  his 
appearance  past,  as  not  also  to  feel  and  know  him  ^re- 
sent  loith  us,  and  to  feed  upon  him,  '  except  Christ  (saith 
the  apostle)  be  in  you,  ye  are  reprobates  ;'  so  that  both 
our  faith  is  one,  terminating  in  one  and  the  same 
thing"  


284 


APPENDIX. 


William  Penn  (Prim.  Christ.  Rev.  Chap.  XI.) :  Yet 
we  are  very  ready  to  declare  to  the  w^hole  world,  that 
V7e  cannot  think  men  and  women  can  be  saved  by  their 
belief  the  one  [Christ's  coming  in  the  flesh]  without 
the  sense  and  experience  of  the  other  [His  inward  and 
spiritual  appearance]." 

George  Fox  (Journal,  Leeds  edit.  Vol.  II.  p.  217) : 
"  They  whose  faith  doth  not  stand  in  the  power  of  God, 
cannot  exalt  his  kingdom  that  stands  in  power;  there- 
fore every  one's  faith  must  stand  in  the  power  of  God. 
All  that  are  in  the  true  faith,  that  stands  in  the  power  of 
God,  will  judge  them  as  carnal,  and  judge  down  that 
carnal  part  in  them  that  cries  up  Paul  or  ApoUos  ;  that 
their  faith  may  stand  in  the  power  of  God,  and  that  they 
may  exalt  Christ,  the  author  of  it.  For  every  one's  eye 
ought  to  be  to  Jesus  ;  and  every  just  man  and  woman 
may  live  by  their  faith,  which  Jesus  Christ  is  the  author 
and  finisher  of.  By  this  faith  every  man  and  woman 
may  see  God,  who  is  invisible  ;  this  faith  gives  the  vic- 
tory, and  by  it  he  hath  access  to  God.  So  every  one's 
faith  and  hope  standing  in  the  power  of  God,  all  therein 
have  unity,  victory,  and  access  to  God's  throne  of 
grace  ;  in  which  faith  they  please  God.  By  this  faith 
they  are  saved,  by  this  faith  they  obtain  the  good  re- 
port, and  subdue  all  the  mountains  that  have  been  be- 
twixt them  and  God." 

Isaac  Penington  (Works,  Vol.  I.  p.  272):  ''What 
then  is  that  faith  which  is  the  gift  of  God  ?  It  is  that 
power  of  believing  which  springs  out  of  the  seed  of  eter- 
nal life  ;  and  leaves  the  heart,  not  with  notions  of  know- 
ledge, but  with  the  power  of  life.  The  other  faith  is 
drawn  out  of  man's  nature,  by  considerations  which 
affect  the  natural  part,  and  is  kept  alive  by  natural  exer- 
cises of  reading,  hearing,  praying,  studying,  meditating 
in  that  part ;  but  this  springs  out  of  a  seed  of  life  given, 
and  grows  up  in  the  life  of  that  seed,  and  feeds  on 
nothing  but  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ ;  in  which  is 
the  living  virtue,  and  immortal  nourishment  of  that 
which  is  immortal.    This  faith,  at  its  first  entrance. 


APPENDIX. 


285 


strikes  that  part  dead  in  which  the  other  faith  did  grow, 
and  by  its  growth  perfects  that  death,  and  raiseth  up  a 
life  which  is  of  another  nature  than  ever  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man  to  conceive." 

(p.  274.)  "  The  true  faith  (the  faith  of  the  gospel,  the 
faith  of  the  elect,  the  faith  which  saves  the  sinner  from 
sin,  and  makes  him  more  than  a  conqueror  over  sin 
and  the  powers  of  darkness)  is  a  belief  in  the  nature  of 
God ;  which  belief  giveth  entrance  into,  fixeth  in,  and 
causeth  an  abiding  in  that  nature.  Unbelief  entereth 
into  death,  and  fixeth  in  the  death  ;  faith  giveth  entrance 
into,  and  fixeth  in  the  life.  Faith  is  an  ingrafting  into 
the  vine,  a  partaking  of  the  nature  of  the  vine,  a  suck- 
ing of  the  juice  of  life  from  the  vine  ;  which  nothing  is 
able  to  do  but  the  faith,  but  the  belief  in  the  nature. 
So  then  faith  is  not  a  believing  the  history  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, or  a  believing  that  Christ  died  for  sinners  in 
general,  or  for  me  in  particular;  for  all  this  may  be 
done  by  the  unbelieving  nature  (like  the  Jew) ;  but  a 
uniting  to  the  nature  of  God  in  Christ,  which  the  unbe- 
liever starts  from  in  the  midst  of  his  believing  of  these. 
Yet  I  do  not  deny  that  all  these  things  are  to  be  be- 
lieved, and  are  believed  with  the  true  faith  ;  but  this  I 
affirm,  that  they  also  may  be  believed  without  the  true 
faith  ;  and  that  such  a  belief  of  these  doth  not  determine 
a  man  to  be  a  believer  in  the  sight  of  God,  but  only  the 
union  with  the  nature  of  that  life  from  whence  all  these 
sprang,  and  in  which  alone  they  have  their  true  value." 

Jos.  Phijyps  (Original  and  Present  State  of  Man, 
p.  152)  :  *'  Gospel  faith  in  man  believes  the  truth  of  all 
that  is  revealed  by  the  Spirit,  both  in  the  heart,  and  in 
the  sacred  writings ;  because  it  feels  it,  savors  it,  and 
is  one  with  it.  It  not  only  assents  to  the  scriptural 
accounts  of  the  incarnation,  and  whole  process  of 
Christ  in  Judea  ;  but  it  also  receives  his  internal  appear- 
ance, consents  to  his  operation,  and  concurs  with  it. 
That  faith  which  stands  wholly  upon  hearsay,  tradi- 
tion, reading,  or  imagination,  is  but  a  distant  kind  of 
ineffectual  credence,  which  permits  the  soul  to  remain 
in  the  bondage  of  corruption.    The  wicked  may  go 


286 


APPENDIX. 


this  length  towards  gospel  faith  ;  but  the  true  faith  lays 
hold  of,  and  cleaves  to  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  in  its  inward 
manifestations ;  wherein  it  stands,  and  whereby  it 
grows,  till  the  heart  is  purified,  the  world  overcome, 
and  salvation  obtained.  This  faith  is  as  a  flame  of  pure 
love  in  the  heart  to  God.  It  presseth  towards  him, 
panteth  after  him,  resigns  to  him,  confides  and  lives  in 
him.  The  mystery  of  it  is  held  in  a  pure  conscience, 
and  in  the  effective  powder  of  the  everlasting  gospel,  &c. 
&c.  It  is  the  faith  by  which  the  members  of  Christ 
truly  live,  and  abide  as  such.  It  is  their  invincible 
shield  ;  and  the  knowledge  of  Christ  in  fhmi  is  the  proof 
of  their  possessing  it.  Abundance  is  said  of  the  nature, 
power,  and  effects  of  this  all-conquering  faith  ;  but  I 
hope  this  will  be  sufficient  to  show,  though,  in  its  co7n- 
pletc  sense,  it  includes  a  belief  of  all  that  is  said  of  Christ, 
and  by  Christ,  in  Holy  Writ,  it  goes  deeper,  and  ariseth 
not  in  man  merely  from  the  man,  but  takes  its  birth 
and  receives  its  increase  from  the  operation  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  him  ;  which  works  by  it  to  the  sanctification  of 
the  heart,  and  the  production  of  every  Christian  virtue." 

UNIVERSAL  AND  SAVING  LIGHT. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essays,  American  edit.  p.  366) :  "  The 
multitude  of  the  Gentiles,  who  gave  themselves  up  to 
idolatrous  and  other  vicious  practices,  were  condemned 
for  this  very  reason,  that  they  sinned  against  the  light 
of  nature — and  both  practised  and  promoted  iniquity, 
although  they  knew  the  judgment  of  God,  that  they 
which  commit  such  things  are  worthy  of  death." — [In 
a  note  at  the  bottom  of  the  page  ]  "I  beg  it  may  be 
understood,  that  by  the  light  of  nature,  I  mean,  simply, 
the  light  which  God  has  communicated  to  the  souls  of  men, 
independently  of  an  outwardly  revealed  religion." 

(p.  392.)  ''God  has  written  his  moral  law  on  the 
hearts  of  all  men,  or  in  other  words,  has  interwoven  a 
sense  of  it  with  their  very  nature.''^ 

(Portable  Evidences,  p.  23.)  "Yet  it  must  be  allowed 
that  it  is  chiefly  through  revelation  that  we  are  thus  led 
to  reason  from  creation  and  providence,  and  that  merely 


APPENDIX. 


2S7 


natural  religion,  even  with  the  additionallight  of  tradition, 
has  left  the  heathen  world  m  all  ages,  in  a  state  great 
darkness  respecting  the  Supreme  Being." 

(p.  1G4.)  "  Their  case  is  not  to  be  confounded  with 
that  of  the  uninstructed  heathen,  who  have  never  heard 
the  truth.  To  these  [viz.  instructed  persons]  the  gos- 
pel has  been  preached,'"'  [plainly  implying  that  it  has 
not  to  the  others.] 

Contrast  the  above  with 

George  Fox  (Journal,  Vol.  I.  p.  112)  :  "  I  saw  that 
Christ  died  for  all  men,  and  was  a  propitiation  for  all; 
and  enlightened  all  men  and  women  with  his  divine  and 
saving  light,  and  that  none  could  be  a  true  believer,  but 
who  believed  in  it.  I  saw  that  the  grace  of  God,  uhicJi 
brings  salvation,  had  appeared  to  all  men,  and  that  the 
manifestation  of  the  Spint  of  God  was  given  to  every 
man  to  profit  withal.'' 

(p.  224.)  "  I  declared  to  them,  that  every  one  that 
cometh  into  the  worJd.  w^'s,  enlightened  by  Christ  the  life  ; 
by  which  light  they  might  see  their  sins,  and  Christ,  who 
was  come  to  save  them  from  their  sins,  and  died  for 
them." 

(p.  420.)  "  Now  I  w^as  speaking  of  the  heavenly, 
di^-ine  light  of  Christ,  with  which  he  enlightens  eveiy 
one  that  cometh  into  the  world,  to  give  them  the  know- 
ledge of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Christ  Jesus 
their  Saviour." 

Rohert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  Y.  &  VI.) :  "  And  this 
light  enlighteneth  the  hearts  of  all  for  a  time,  in  order 
to  salvation  ;  and  this  is  it  w^hich  reproves  the  sin  of  all 
individuals,  and  icould  work  out  the  salvation  of  all,  if 
not  resisted.  Nor  is  it  less  universal  than  the  seed  of 
sin,  being  the  purchase  of  his  death,  who  tasted  death 
for  every  man,  Szc.  For  as  hence  it  well  follows  that 
some  of  the  old  philosophers  might  have  been  saved, 
so  also  may  some,  who  by  Providence  are  cast  into 
those  remote  parts  of  the  w^orld  where  the  knowledge 
of  the  history  is  wanting,  be  made  partakers  of  the 


288 


APPENDIX. 


divine  mystery,  if  they  receive  and  resist  not  that  grace, 
a  manifestation  whereof  is  given  to  every  man  to  profit 
withal.  This  most  certain  doctrine  being  then  received, 
that  there  is  an  evangelical  and  saving  light  and  grace  in 
all,  the  universality  of  the  love  and  mercy  of  God  to- 
wards mankind,  both  in  the  death  of  his  beloved  Son, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  in  the  manifestation  of  the 
Light  in  the  heart,  is  established  and  confirmed,  against 
all  the  objections  of  such  as  deny  it.  Therefore,  Christ 
hath  tasted  death  for  every  man ;  not  only  for  all  kinds 
of  men,  as  some  vainly  talk,  but  for  every  man  of  all 
kinds  ;  the  benefit  of  whose  ofiering  is  not  only  extended 
to  such  who  have  the  distinct  outward  knowledge  of 
His  death  and  sufferings  as  the  same  is  declared  in  the 
Scriptures,  but  even  unto  those  who  are  necessarily  ex- 
cluded from  the  benefit  of  this  knowledge  by  some 
inevitable  accident;  which  knowlec^^e  we  willingly 
confess  to  be  very  profitable  and  comfortable,  but  not 
absolutely  needful  unto  such  from  whom  God  himself 
hath  withheld  it ;  yet  they  may  be  made  partakers  of 
the  mystery  of  His  death,  though  ignorant  of  the  his- 
tory, if  they  suffer  his  seed  and  light,  enlightening  their 
hearts,  to  take  place,  in  wliicJi  lights  communion  with  the 
Father  and  the  Sjn  is  enjoy ed,^^  &c. 

THE  "  GOSPEL." 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essay  on  Love  to  God,  p.  5)  :  "  In  ef- 
fecting this  blessed  change,  &c.  the  Holy  Spirit  makes 
use  of  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  his  grand, 
appointed  instrument.  That  Gospel  written  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  preached  by  the  Lord's  messengers,  is 
a  spiritual  weapon  of  heavenly  mould;  and  when 
wielded  by  a  divine  hand,  it  penetrates  the  heart,  and 
becomes  'the  power  of  God  unto  salvation.'  " 

Contrast  with 

Robert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  V.  &  VI.  p.  168.): 
"  Thirdly,  this  saving  spiritual  light  is  the  Gospel,  which 
the  apostle  saith  expressly  is  preached  in  every  creature 


APPENDIX. 


289 


under  heaven  ;  even  that  very  Gospel  whereof  Paul  was 
made  a  minister,  Col.  i.  23.  For  the  Gospel  is  not  a 
mere  declaration  of  good  things,  being  the  iiower  of  God 
unto  salvation  to  all  those  that  believe^  Rom.  i,  16.  Though 
the  outward  declaration  of  the  Gospel  be  taken  some- 
times for  the  Gospel,  yet  it  is  but  figuratively,  and  by  a 
metonymy.  For,  to  speak  properly,  the  Gospel  is  this 
inward  power  and  life  which  preacheth  glad  tidings  in 
the  hearts  of  all  inen^  offering  salvation  unto  them,  and 
seeking  to  redeem  them  from  their  iniquities,  and  there- 
fore it  is  said  to  be  preached  in  every  creature  under 
heaven  :  whereas  there  are  many  thousands  of  men 
and  women  to  whom  the  outward  Gospel  was  never 
preached." 

George  Fox  (Journal,  Vol.  I.  p.  251) :  "  Waiting  in 
the  light,  you  will  receive  the  power  of  God,  which  is 
the  Gospel  of  peace  ;  that  you  may  be  shod  with  it, 
and  know  that  in  one  another,  which  raiseth  up  the  seed 
of  God,"  &c. 

(p.  401.)  "For  though  ye  have  the  four  books,  yet 
the  Gospel  is  hid  to  you  ;  who  are  strangling  at  the  work 
of  God,  and  do  not  believe  that  Christ  hath  enlightened 
every  one  that  cometh  into  the  world." 

(Vol.  IT.  p.  25.)  "  In  their  reasoning,  they  said,  *  the 
gospel  was  the  four  books  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  and 
John,'  and  they  called  it  natural.  I  told  them,  '  the 
Gospel  was  the  power  of  God,  which  was  preached  be- 
fore Matthew,  iNIark,  Luke,,  and  John,  or  any  of  them 
were  printed  or  written  ;  and  it  was  preached  to  every 
creature,  (of  which  a  great  part  might  never  see,  nor 
hear  of  those  four  books)  so  that  every  creature  was  to 
obey  the  power  of  God  ;  for  Christ,  the  spiritual  man, 
would  judge  the  world  according  to  the  Gospel,  that 
is,  according  to  his  invisible  power.'  " 

OF   THE  SCRIPTURES   AND   THE   HOLY  SPIRIT. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essay  on  Love  to  God,  p.  5)  :  "  In  ef- 
fecting this  blessed  change  in  the  affections  of  fallen 
man,  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  use  of  the  Gospel  of  our 
13 


290 


APPENDIX. 


Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  his  grand  appointed  instrument. 
That  Gospel,  written  in  the  Holy  Scriptures^  and  preached 
by  the  Lord's  messengers,"  &c. 

(p.  39.)  "  The  love  of  Christ  is  indeed  an  animating 
subject,  full  of  joy  and  sublimity  ;  and  to  dwell  on  its 
principal  features,  tmder  the  guidance  of  Scripture^  must 
be  regarded  as  one  of  our  happiest  privileges." 

(Strictures  on  Truth  Vindicated,  p.  24) :  "  The  com- 
parison which  some  of  the  early  Friends  were  accus- 
tomed to  institute  between  the  Spirit  as  the  primary 
rule,  and  the  Scriptures  as  the  secondary  one,  was  not 
intended,  as  I  conceive,  to  apply  to  the  question  of 
authority,  but  only  to  that  of  order,  and  dignity  J' 

(Essay  on  Love  to  God,  p.  25.)  What  a  blessing, 
that  his  holiness  is  established  beyond  the  possibility  of 
a  doubt,  by  that  intuitive  rule  of  right,  which  in  charac- 
ters more  or  less  legible,  he  has  condescended  to  write, 
by  his  Spirit,  on  the  hearts  of  all  men !  It  is  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  however,  that  the  theology  of  nature 
is  cleared  and  confirmed."  "  Let  us,  then,  under  the 
guidance  of  prophets  and  apostles,  learn  to  contemplate 
God  as  our  Father,"  &c. 

(Essays,  Amer.  edit,  p.  383  )  "  In  the  fulfilment  of 
\}aQ  written  prophecy,  \xi  \}L\QW\s,diOV[i  of  the  written  doc- 
trine, in  the  purity  of  the  written  law, — in  the  harmony 
of  the  contents  of  the  Bible  amidst  almost  endless  va- 
riety,— and  in  its  efficacy,  as  the  principal  means  em- 
ployed by  Divine  Providence  for  the  illumination,  con- 
version, and  spiritual  edification  of  man,  the  enquirer 
cannot  fail  to  perceive  unquestionable  indications  of  the 
divine  origin  of  Holy  Writ."  "  Therefore,  the  person 
who  searches  for  that  which  is  revealed  may  safely  direct 
his  unhesitating  atteiition  to  that  which  is  written." 

(Portable  Evidences,  p.  3.  edit.  1832.)  "But  the 
moral  and  spiritual  force  of  the  Sacred  Volume  is  that 
which  chiefly  serves  to  fasten  its  contents  on  the  mind 
of  every  honest  inquirer.whether  more  or  less  educated, 
and  to  produce  a  settled  conviction  of  its  divine  ori- 
gin.' 

(p.  5.)  "  It  [the  Bible]  is  a  text  book  for  moral  and 
religious  teaching,  which  knows  no  rival,  and  to  the  use 
and  application  of  which  there  appears  no  limit." — 


APPENDIX. 


291 


"  Whatsoever,  in  the  preaching  or  writings  of  modern 
Christians,  has  any  tendency  lo  convert,  purify,  and  save 
the  souls  of  men,  never  fails  to  be  found  in  its  original 
form,  in  the  Bible." 

(p.  31 .)  Now  the  inft)rmation  which  the  Bible  gives, 
respecting  the  Supreme  Being,  whether  considered  as 
a  harmonious  whole,  or  viewed  in  its  principal  details, 
is  to  be  found  originally  in  the  Bible  aloneT 

(p.  33.)  "  The  moral  law,  as  revealed  in  Scripture,  par- 
takes of  the  character  of  its  author,  &c.  It  applies  to 
all  circumstances,  comprehends  all  conditions,  regulates 
<zZ^  motives,  directs  and  controls  all  overt  actsT 

(p.  69.)  '*  In  the  Bible  all  is  simple,  powerful,  and 
practicable.  While  enough  is  hidden  to'humble  us  un- 
der a  sense  of  our  own  ignorance,  enough  is  revealed  to 
direct  our  faith,  and  regulate  our  conduct 

(p.  91.)  "  They  [the  Scriptures]  unfold  the  law  of 
God  in  all  its  strength  and  spirituality  in  all  the  glorious 
variety  of  its  details^ 

(p.  101.)  **  Now  it  is  in  the  Scriptures  only  that  the 
attributes  of  our  Heavenly  Father  are  fully  made  known 
to  us.  And  therefore  it  is  only  through  the  religion  of 
the  Bible,  that  we  can  obtain  an  adequate  notion  of  sin." 

(p.  105.)  "  The  Bible,  which  alone  fully  reveals  the 
nature  and  character  of  sin,  expressly  declares,"  &c. 

(p.  170.)  "  When  we  open  the  volume  of  Scripture, 
and  propose  that  interpretation  of  its  contents— 
cially  of  its  more  mysterious  parts — which  is  demanded 
by  the  plain  laws  of  criticism — laws  which  good  sense 
has  established,  and  which  are  familiar  to  every  scho- 
lar— we  again  appeal  to  enlightened  reason,"  &c.  &c. 

(Portable  Evidences,  p.  100.)  "  But  it  is  only  through 
the  medium  of  revealed  religion  [meaning,  obviously 
from  the  context,  the  Bible]  that  we  obtain  a  proper 
conception  of  the  nature  of  sin,  or  are  enabled  to  form 
aright  estimate  of  the  moral  condition  of  mankind." 

(Address  to  Manchester  Mechanics,  p.  6.)  **  Moral 
and  religious  knowledge  !  And  where  is  this  to  be  ob- 
tained %  Certainly  we  may  furnish  our  minds  with 
some  considerable  portions  of  it  by  reading  the  book  of 
nature  and  providence  ;  but  there  is  another  book  which 
must  be  regarded  as  its  depository — a  book  in  which  all 


292 


APPENDIX. 


tkingSf  moral  and  spiritual,  belonging  to  the  welfare  of 
man,  are  fully  unfolded." — **  I  believe  it  is  also  true 
that  the  law  of  God  is  written,  in  characters  more  or  less 
legible,  on  the  hearts  of  all  men.  But  for  a  full  account 
of  his  glorious  attributes — for  the  knowledge  of  religion 
in  all  its  beauty,  and  strength,  and  completeness, — we 
must  have  recourse  to  the  Bible — we  must  meditate  on 
the  written  word.  There  the  whole  moral  law  is  deline- 
ated with  a  pencil  of  heavenly  light,"  &c.  &c. 

(Sketch  of  Wilberforce,  p.  25.)  Dr.  Doddridge's 
Rise  and  Progress,  and  Wilberforce's  own  Book  on 
Christianity — whatsoever  there  is  of  a  converting  na- 
ture in  these  and  such  other  works,  is  originally  ex- 
pressed only  in  the  Bible." 

Contrast  the  above  with- 

Robert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  III.) :  "  Nevertheless, 
because  they  I  the  Holy  Scriptures]  are  only  a  declara- 
tion of  the  Fountain,  and  not  the  fountain  itself,  there- 
fore they  are  not  to  be  esteemed  the  principal  ground  of 
all  truth  and  knowledge,  nor  yet  the  adequate  primary 
rule  of  faith  and  manners.  Yet  because  ihey  give  a 
true  and  faithful  testimony  of  the  first  foundation,  they 
are  and  maybe  esteemed  a  secondary  rule,  subordinate 
to  the  spirit,  from  which  they  have  all  their  excellency 
and  certainty — for  as  by  the  inward  testimony  of  the 
Spirit  we  do  alone  truly  know  them,  so  they  testify, 
that  the  Spirit  is  that  Guide  by  which  the  saints  are  led^ 
into  all  truth  ;  therefore,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  the 
Spirit  is  the  first  and  principal  leader." 

(p.  74.)  *'  The  principal  rule  of  Christians  under  the 
Gospel  is  not  an  outward  letter,  nor  law  outwardly 
written  and  delivered,  but  an  inward  spiritual  law,  en- 
graven in  the  heart,  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  Life,  the 
word  that  is  nigh  in  the  heart  and  in  the  mouth'^  *'  That 
which  is  given  to  Christians  for  a  rule  and  guide,  must 
needs  be  so  full,  that  it  may  clearly  and  distinctly  guide 
and  order  them  in  all  things  and  occurrences  that  may 
fall  out.  But  in  that  there  are  numberless  things,  with 
regard  to  their  circumstances,  which  particular  Chris- 
tians may  be  concerned  in,  for  which  there  can  be  no 


APPENDIX. 


293 


particular  rule  had  in  the  Scriptures  ;  therefore  the 
Scriptures  cannot  be  a  rule  to  them" — "What  Scrip- 
ture-rule shall  inform  me,  whether  it  be  my  duty  to 
preach  in  this  or  that  place,  in  France  or  England,  Hol- 
land or  Germany]"  &c.  "The  general  rules  of  the 
Scriptures,  viz.  to  be  diligent  in  my  duty,  &c.  can  give 
me  no  light  in  this  thing." 

**  Through  and  by  the  clearness  which  that  Spirit 
gives  us  it  is,  that  we  are  only  best  rid  of  those  difficul- 
ties that  occur  to  us  concerning  the  Scriptures."  "  The 
real  and  undoubted  experience  whereof,  I  myself  have 
been  a  witness  of,"'  &c. 

'*  If  it  be  then  asked  me,  whether  I  think  hereby  to 
render  the  Sciiptures  altogether  uncertain,  or  useless — 
I  answer,  not  at  all.  The  proposition  itself  declares  how 
much  I  esteem  them ;  and  provided  that  to  the  Spirit 
from  which  they  came,  be  but  granted  that  place  which 
the  Scriptures  themselves  give  it,  I  do  freely  concede  to 
the  Scriptures  the  second  place,  even  whatsoever  they 
say  of  themselves.  It  is  to  be  observed,  that  it  is  only 
the  spiritual  man  that  can  make  a  right  use  of  them — 
as  for  the  others,  the  apostle  Peter  plainly  declares, 
that  the  unstable  and  unlearned  wrest  them  to  their 
own  destruction  :  these  were  they  that  were  unlearned 
in  the  divine  and  heavenly  learning  of  the  Spirit,  not  in 
human  and  school  literature^ 

(Quakerism  Confirmed,  Barclay's  Works,  Vol.  III. 
p.  106.)  "  Now  as  to  the  second  branch  of  their  argu- 
ment, that  the  Scriptures  are  a  sufficient  objective  reve- 
lation of  all  things  necessary  to  salvation  ;  this  we  alto- 
gether deny,  as  is  said.  For  although  the  Scriptures  are 
a  full-enough  declaration  of  all  doctrines  and  principles, 
both  essential  and  integral  of  Christian  religion  ;  yet  our 
souls  need  a  more  near  and  immediate  discovery  of  God 
than  the  Scripture,  which  is  but  a  report  of  him,  that  he 
may  feed  and  nourish  us  by  his  divine  manifestations." 

(Apol.  Prop.  II.  p.  66.)  "  As  the  description  of  the 
light  of  the  sun,  or  of  curious  colors,  to  a  blind  man, who, 
though  of  the  largest  capacity,  cannot  so  well  under- 
stand it  by  the  most  acute  and  lively  description,  as  a 
child  can  by  seeing  them  ;  so  neither  can  the  natural 
man,  of  the  largest  capacity,  by  the  best  words,  even 


294 


APPENDIX. 


Scripture  words,  so  well  understand  the  mysteries  of 
God's  kingdom,  as  the  least  and  weakest  child  who 
tasteth  them,  by  having  them  revealed  inwardly  and 
objectively  by  the  Spirit." 

George  Fox  (Journal,  vol.  I.,  p.  187.) :  "  I  directed 
them  to  the  Divine  light  of  Christ  and  his  spirit  in  their 
hearts,  which  would  let  them  see  all  the  evil  thoughts, 
words,  and  actions,  that  they  had  thought,  spoken,  and 
acted  ;  by  which  light  they  might  see  their  sin,  and 
also  their  Saviour  Christ  Jesus,  to  save  them  from  their 
sins.  This  I  told  them  was  the  first  step  to  peace,  even 
to  stand  still  in  the  light  that  showed  them  their  sins  and 
transgressions  ;  by  which  they  might  come  to  see  how 
they  were  in  the  fall  of  old  Adam,  in  darkness  and 
death,  strangers  to  the  convenant  of  promise,  and  with- 
out God  in  the  world  ;  and  by  the  same  light  they  might 
see  Christ,  that  died  for  them,  to  be  their  Redeemer 
and  Saviour,  and  their  way  to  God." 

Page  429,  [nearly  in  the  same  terms.] 

1.  Penington  (Works,  vol.  I.,  p.  20.)  :  "  In  my  heart 
and  soul  I  honor  the  Scriptures,  and  long  to  read  them 
throughout  with  the  pure  eye,  and  in  the  pure  light  of 
the  living  spirit  of  God :  but  the  Lord  preserve  me 
from  reading  one  line  of  them  in  my  own  will,  or  in- 
terpreting any  part  of  them  according  to  my  own  under- 
standing, but  only  as  I  am  guided,  led,  and  enlightened 
by  him,  in  the  will  and  understanding  which  comes 
from  him.  And  here  all  Scripture,  every  writing  of 
God's  spirit,  which  is  from  the  breath  of  his  life,  is 
profitable  to  build  up  and  perfect  the  man  of  God." 

(Works,  vol.  I.,  p.  277.) :  "  That  eye  that  can  read 
the  Scriptures  with  the  light  of  its  own  understanding ; 
that  can  consider  and  debate,  and  take  up  senses  and 
meanings  of  it,  without  the  immediate  life  and  power  ; 
that  is  the  eye  that  may  gather  what  it  can  from  the 
letter,  but  shall  never  see  into  the  life,  nor  taste  of  the 
true  knowledge  ;  for  Christ,  who  alone  opens  and  gives 
the  knowledge,  hides  the  pearl  from  that  eye." 


APPENDIX. 


295 


JUSTIFICATION. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essays,  American  edition,  p.  357.) : 
*'  From  these  premises  it  follows,  that  in  the  order  of 
the  grace  God,  justijication  precedes  sanctijication,  and 
that  the  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  by  which  the  ungodly  are 
justified,  has  respect,  in  a  very  pre-eminent  manner,  to 
the  atonement  which  he  has  made  for  the  sins  of  the 
world." 

(p.  35S.)  While  however  the  jusir/icat ion  of  the  sin- 
ner, through  faith  in  a  crucified  Redeemer,  precedes  the 
work  of  sanctfjlcation,  its  close  and  inseparable  con- 
nexion with  that  work  is  evinced  by  the  fact,  that  in  the 
economy  of  God's  spiritual  government  this  very  faith 
is  the  constituted  means^  through  which  we  obtain  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 

Contrast  the  above  with — 

RicJiard  Claridge  (Works,  as  quoted.  Friends,  vol. 
XI.,  p.  231.)  :  "  If  we  attend  to  the  order  of  the  apos- 
tle's testimony  (I  Cor.  vi:  2,)  we  must  he  washed  and 
sanctified^  before  we  can  be  justified.  And  if  we  come 
to  witness  the  efficacious  work  of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  in 
our  cleansing  and  sanctification,  we  shall  know  our- 
selves to  be  in  a  state  of  justification  and  not  till  then. 
For  though  Christ  be  a  propitiation  for  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world,  yet  no  man  can  comfortably  apply  him  as 
such  to  his  own  soul,  but  as  he  first  experiences  the 
sanctifying  work  of  the  spirit." 

*'  The  Antinomian  insisted  much  upon  the  priority  of 
justification  to  sanctification,  alleging  that  men  are  first 
justified,  and  then  sanctified.  R.  Claridge  replied,  that 
complete  justification  denoted  a  being  made  inwardly 
just,  by  putting  an  end  to  sin,  finishing  transgression, 
and  bringing  in  Christ's  everlasting  righteousness  ;  and 
this  being  the  work  of  the  spirit  in  sanctification,  sanc- 
tification must  of  necessity -precede  our  justification." 

R.  Barclay  {Apoh  Prop.  V^II.,  p.  196.):     As  many 
as  resist  not  this  light,  but  receive  the  same,  it  becomes 


296 


APPENDIX. 


in  them  an  holy,  pure  and  spiritual  birth,  bringing  forth 
holiness,  righteousness,  purity,  and  all  those  other  bless- 
ed fruits  which  are  acceptable  to  God  :  by  which  holy 
birth,  to  wit:  Jesus  Christ  formed  within  us,  and  work- 
ing his  work  in  us,  as  we  are  sanctified,  so  are  we 
justified  in  the  sight  of  God,"  &c. 

(p.  217.)  "  Therefore,  as  none  are  said  to  be  sancti- 
fied that  are  really  unholy,  while  they  are  such  ;  so 
neither  can  any  be  truly  said  to  be  justified,  while  they 
actually  remain  unjust,"  &c. 

(p.  223.)  "Having  thus  sufficiently  proved,  that  by 
justification  is  to  be  understood  a  really  being  made 
righteous,  I  do  boldly  affirm,  and  that  not  only  from  a 
notional  knowledge,  but  from  a  real,  inward,  experi- 
mental feeling  of  the  thing,  that  the  immediate,  near- 
est, or  formal  cause  (if  we  must  in  condescension  to 
some  use  this  word)  of  a  man's  justification  in  the  sight 
of  God,  is,  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  in  the  souly 
{changing,  altering  and  renewing  the  mind,  by  whom 
even  the  author  of  this  inward  work)  thus  formed  and 
revealed,  we  are  truly  justified  and  accepted  in  the 
sight  of  God,"  &c. 

(p.  225.)  '*  That  it  is  by  this  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  the  new  creation  in  us,  that  we  are  justi- 
fied, doth  evidently  appear  from  that  excellent  saying 
of  the  apostle,"  &c.  "  According  to  his  mercy  he  hath 
saved  us,  by  the  washing  of  regeneration  and  renew- 
ing of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  &c.  "Now,  that  whereby 
we  are  saved,  that  we  are  also  no  doubt  justified  by; 
which  words  are  in  this  respect  synonymous.  Here 
the  apostle  clearly  ascribes  the  immediate  cause  of  jus- 
tification to  this  inward  work  of  regeneration,  which  is 
Jesus  Christ  revealed  in  the  soul,  as  being  that  which 
formally  states  us  in  a  capacity  of  being  reconciled  with 
God,"  &c. 

William  Penn  (Primitive  Christianity  Revived. — 
Works,  Vol.  v.,  p.  310.)  :  *•  We  cannot  believe  that 
Christ's  death  and  sufferings  so  satisfy  God,  or  justify 
men,  as  that  they  are  tJierehy  accepted  of  God  :  they 
are,  indeed,  thereby  put  into  a  state  cajoahle  of  being 
accepted  of  God,  and,  through  the  obedience  of  faith, 
and  sanctification  of  the  spirit,  are  in  a  state  of  accept- 


APPENDIX. 


297 


ance ;  for  we  can  never  think  a  man  justified  before 
God,  while  self-condemned,"  &c, 

(p.  311.)  "  In  short,  justification  consists  of  two 
parts,  or  hath  a  two-fold  consideration,  viz  :  justifica- 
tion from  the  guilt  of  sin  and  justification  from 
the  po2ce?'  a.nd  pollution  of  sin,  and  in  sense  jus- 
tification gives  a  man  a  full  and  clear  acceptance  be- 
fore God ;  for  want  of  this  latter  part  it  is,  that 
so  many  souls,  religiously  inclined,  are  often  under 
doubts,  scruples,  and  despondencies,  notwithstanding 
all  that  their  teachers  tell  them  of  the  extent  and  effi- 
cacy of  the  first  part  of  justification.  And  it  is  too 
general  an  unhapphiess  among  the  professors  of  Chris- 
tianity, that  they  are  too  apt  to  cloak  their  own  ac- 
tive and  passive  disobedience  with  the  active  and  pas- 
sive obedience  of  Christ : — The  first  part  of  justification 
we  do  reverently  and  humbly  acknowledge,  is  only 
for  the  sake  of  the  death  and  sufferings  of  Christ : 
nothing  we  can  do,  though  by  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  being  able  to  cancel  old  debts,  or  wipe  out 
old  scores;  it  is  the  power  and  efficacy  of  that  propi- 
tiatory offering,  upon  faith  and  rejjentance,  that  justi- 
fies us  from  the  sins  that  are  past  ;  and  it  is  the  power 
of  Christ's  spirit  in  our  hearts,  that  purifies  and  makes 
us  acceptable  before  God.  For  till  the  heart  of  man 
is  purged  from  sin,  God  will  never  accept  of  it.  He 
reproves,  rebukes,  and  condemns  those  that  entertain 
sin  there,  and  therefore  such  cannot  be  said  to  be  in  a 
justified  state;  condemnation  and  justification  being 
contraries  ;  so  that  they  that  hold  themselves  in  a  jus- 
tified state  by  the  active  and  passive  obedience  of 
Christ,  while  they  are  not  actively  and  passively  obe- 
dient to  the  spirit  of  Christ  Jesus,  are  under  a  strong 
and  dangerous  delusion." 

1.  Fenington  (Works,  Vol.  I.,  p.  96.)  :  "  Mark  then, 
the  justification  or  redemption  is  not  by  believing  of  a 
thing  done  without  man  (though  that  also  is  to  be  be- 
lieved) but  by  receiving  Him  into  the  hearth 
13* 


298 


APPENDIX. 


IMPUTATIVE  RIGHTEOUSNESS. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Portable  Evidences,  p.  58  ) :  "  Yet 
surely  it  is  because  of  his  [Christ's]  infinite  w^orth  and 
dignity  in  the  glorious  Godhead,  that  Christ  becomes 
*  our  righteousness/  and  that  his  righteousness,  imjmt- 
ed  to  believers,  procures  for  them  the  reward  of  a 
happy  immortality." 

(p.  138  )  "  In  himself  indeed  as  a  transgressor  from 
his  birth,  he  [man]  is  viJe  and  2^0! hded,  hut  by  the  blood 
of  Jesus  sprinkled  on  his  heart,  his  conscience  is  purg- 
ed from  every  dead  work  ;  and  having  obtained  an 
interest  in  the  Saviour  of  men,  he  wears  a  robe  of 
righteousness  in  which  there  is  no  spot." 

(Essays,  p.  390.)  "  Our  only  claim  on  the  heavenly 
inheritance  therefore  coiisi'sts  in  this  ;  that  God  is  pleas- 
ed to  impute  to  those  who  believe,  the  perfect  right- 
eousness of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Contrast  the  above  with  — 

Robert  Barclay  (Truth  Cleared,  &c.,  Works,  Vol.  I , 
p.  177.):  Thy  last  argument  from  2  Cor.  v:  21,  is 
most  absurd  and  impious,  for  accordingly  it  would  fol- 
low, that  as  Christ  was  made  sin  for  us,  or  suffered  for 
our  sins,  who  himself  had  no  sin,  no  not  in  the  least, 
so  we  may  be  made  righteous  before  God,  though  we 
have  no  righteousness,  no  holiness,  no  faith,  no  repen- 
tance, no  mortification,  no  good  thing  wrought  in  us. 
And  doth  not  this  strengthen  the  wicked,  ungodly  and 
profane  in  their  presumption,  to  have  title  to  Christ's 
righteousness  ?"  We  find  the  apostle  makes  a  far 
better  inference  from  Christ,  his  dying  for  us,  2  Cor. 
vi :  15.  '  He  died  for  all,  that  they  who  live,  might 
not  any  longer  live  to  themselves,  but  to  God  yea, 
and  every  wheie  he  holdeth  forth  inward  holiness  and 
righteousness,  as  that  without  which  no  man  can  lay 
claim  to  Christ.'  *  If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he  is 
a  new  creature  ;'  but  he  dolh  not  say,  God  reputes  him 
a  new  creature,  though  he  be  not  really  renewed." 


APPENDIX.  299 

I  Fenington  (Works,  Vol.  I.,  p.  97.) ;  "  He  whom 
God  maketh  righteous,  was  ungodly  before  He  made 
him  ri^^hteous.  There  was  nothins:  but  unrisrhteous- 
ness  could  be  imputed  to  him  in  tiansgression,  before 
He  gave  him  His  Son,  and  inade  hiir  righteous  in  his 
Son  ;  for  nothing  is  righteous  with  God  but  Christ,  rmd 
man  only  as  he  is  taken  into  his  righteousness  :  which 
is  done  not  by  a  believing  from  the  bare  letter,  but  by 
a  receiving  of  faith  in  the  life.'^ 

(p.  97.)  "  Faith  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  this  gift  jus- 
tifies ;  this  is  that  which  God  imputeth  for  righteous- 
ness The  faith  is  in  the  blood,  and  the  blood  in  the 
Son  ;  and  in  the  true  receiving  of  the  Son,  both  the  faith 
and  the  blood  are  known  and  felt.  These  are  true 
words,  though  hard  to  the  fleshly  earP 

THE  SABBATH. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (on  the  Sabbath,  p.  X.)  :  In  applying 
to  the  Christian's  day  of  rest  and  worship,  the  name  of 
Sabbath,  I  consider  that  I  am  fully  Justified  both  by 
the  simple  meaning  of  the  word,  &c." 

(p.  1.)  The  moral,  and  therefore  permanent  nature  of 
that  divine  institution,"  &c-  &c. 

(p.  85.)  '*  And  the  day  on  which  Jesus  rose  from 
the  dead,  hd^dheen  halloiced  by  the  Lord  himself,"  &c. 
&c. 

(p.  85.)  *'  The  Lord  of  the  Sabbath  was  again  honor- 
ing the  day  which  He  had  chosen  for  himself.'^ 

(p.  102  )  On  this  hallowed  day  we  are  bound  by 
a  sacred  obligation,"  &c.  &c. 

(p.  1 04.)  '*  The  whole  man  ought  then  to  be  present- 
ed, a  living  sacrifice  unto  God." 

(p.  107.)  "Although  these  assemblies  [in  the  middle 
of  the  week]  are  the  means  of  much  edification,  they  are 
seldom  found  to  serve  the  purpose  of  social  worship 
and  communion,  in  their  full  extent." 

(Contribution  to  a  Lady's  Album,  Norwich,  1827,  p. 
5)  :  '*  No  person  of  serious  reflection  would,  I  pre- 
sume, object  to  those  outward  institutions — such  as  the 
BdbboJli  day^  appointed  hours  and  places  of  meeting, 


300 


APPENDIX. 


&c.  &c.,  which  are  essential,  in  the  order  of  Providence, 
to  the  congregational  worship  of  the  Deity,"  «fec.  &c. 

Contrast  the  above  with — 

Robert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  XL,  p.  340) :  "  We 
may  not  therefore  think  with  the  papists,  that  these 
days  are  liohj,  and  lead  people  into  a  superstitious  ob- 
servation of  them;  being  persuaded  that  all  days  are 
alike  holy  in  the  sight  of  God."  "  We  not  seeing  any 
ground  in  Scripture  for  it,  cannot  be  so  superstitious  as  to 
believe,  that  either  the  Jewish  Sabbath  now  continues, 
or  that  the  Jirst  day  of  the  week. is  the  antitype  thereof, 
or  the  true  Christian  Sabbath  ;  which  with  Calvin  we 
believe  to  have  a  more  spiritual  sense,  and  therefore 
we  know  no  moral  obligation  by  the  fourth  command- 
ment, or  elsewhere,  to  kejep  the  first  day  of  the  week 
more  than  any  other,  or  any  holiness  inherent  in  it. 
But  first,  forasmuch  as  it  is  necessary  that  there  be  some 
time  set  apart  for  the  saints  to  meet  together  to  wait 
upon  God ;  and  that  secondly,  it  is  fit  that  at  some 
times  they  be  freed  from  their  other  outward  affairs  ; 
and  that  thirdly,  reason  and  equity  doth  allow  that  ser- 
vants and  beasts  have  some  time  allowed  them  to  be 
eased  from  their  continued  labor ;  and  that  fourthly, 
it  appears  that  the  apostles  and  primitive  Christians 
did  use  the  first  day  of  the  iveeh  for  these  purposes  ; 
we  find  ourselves  sufficiently  moved  for  these  causes  to 
do  so  also,  without  superstitiously  straining  the  Scrip- 
tures for  another  reason,  which,  that  it  is  not  to  be 
there  found,  many  Protestants,  yea,  Calvin  himself, 
upon  the  fourth  command,  hath  abundantly  evinced. 
And  though  we  therefor  meet,  and  abstain  from  work- 
ing upon  this  day,  yet  doth  that  not  hinder  us  from  hav- 
ing meetings  also  for  worship  at  other  times." 

(Truth  Cleared,  &c..  Works,  p.  204,  Vol.  I.)  :  "And 
the  Lord's  people  have  frequent  times,  more  than  once 
a  week,  wherein,  laying  aside  their  outward  affairs  for 
a  season,  they  may  and  do  meet  together  to  wait  upon 
the  Lord,  and  be  quickened,  refreshed,  and  instructed 
by  Him,  and  worship  Him  in  his  spirit,  and  may  be 
useful  unto  one  another  in  exhortation,  or  admonition. 


301 


or  any  odier  way,  as  die  Lord  shall  fbniish."  "  Ajid 
it  were  said,  if  the  Lord  had  only  ailowed  but  one  day 
of  seven  unto  this  eifect.""  "  And  our  sools  do  oix  bless 
the  Lord,  in  aUowiug-  i^  many  times  of  TefireshmenC 
and  3trengthemng,  to  the  establishing  and  confirming 
QS  in  his  loTe  and  }a£e,  amd  disbiordeiiii^  oar  nuindb  o£ 
earthly  things  mocli  Metre  freqixeiitly  tham  in  €me 
of  seven,"'  &:c.  &:c. 

George  Foqe  (Joamal,  Vol.  11.,  p.  1S5] :  "  Fojt  we 
were  redeemed  out  erf"  days  by  Christ  Jesms,  ajid 
brought  into  the  day  which  hatk  spjnui^  ^rom  on  Id^b. 
and  are  come  into  him  who  is  Lord  o£  the  Jewish  Sab- 
batli,  and  the  sobstance  of  the  Jews'  stgnskP — See  also 
Discipline  of  Plnladeipliia  Yearly  Mecd^  on  this  snb^ 
ject. 

J.  J.  Gurney,  Observations,  p.  591,  Ten  cC-Cj  :  "  >ro 
one  can,  with  any  show  of  reason,  deny  that  our  Lord's 
precept  respecting  oar  entering  into  the  closet — shut- 
ting the  door — and  praying  t<>  oar  Father,  who  seeth  in 
secret,  Ls  to  be  onderstood  UteraU^g  ;  and  therefore  such, 
a  practice,  as  far  as  circumstances  allow,  is  universally 
incumbent  upon  Christians.  If  we  would  grow  in 
grace,  and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
it  must  be  our  frequent  practice — especially  at  the 
commencement  and  end  of  each  day — to  retire  into 
solitude,  and  there  seek  for  ability  to  pour  out  our 
prayers  to  the  Lord,  with  a  diligent  and  fervent  spirit. 
Nor  ought  we  to  forget,  that  we  may  be  assisted  in  the 
performance  of  this  Christian  duty,  by  kneeling  down 
in  a  deliberate  and  solemn  manner,  &c.  (p.  292.)  "  To 
the  occasional  use  of  the  prayer  which  our  Lord  coo- 
descended  to  recite,  I  cannot  conceive  that  any  reflect- 
ing Christian  can  for  a  moment  object :  and  I  helieve 
that  our  children,  oikght  to  he  accustomed  to  it  Jrom.  early 
lifer 

(On  Love  to  God,  p  77.)  "  With  respect  to  our 
children,  more  particularly,  it  is  surely  our  duty,  by 
watchful  instruction,  and  sometimes  by  uniting  with 
them  in  their  private  religious  exercises,  to  train  them 


302 


APPENDIX. 


in  the  habit  of  daily  prayer — just  as  we  see  the  parent 
bird,  by  frequent  example  and  experiment,  teaching 
and  inducing  her  young  ones  to  use  the  wings  which 
God  has  given  them." 

Contrast  the  above  with 

Rolert  Barclay,  (Apol.  Prop.  XI.  p.  364.)  "  We  find 
that  Jesus  Christ,  the  author  of  the  Christian  reHgion, 
prescribes  no  set  form  of  worship  to  his  children. 
Note.  If  any  object  here,  that  the  Lord^s  prayer  is  a 
prescribed  form  of  prayer,  and  therefore  of  worship  given 
by  Christ  to  his  chddren,  I  answer,  first,  this  cannot  be 
objected  by  any  sort  of  Christians  that  I  know,  because 
there  are  none  who  use  not  other  prayers,  or  that  limit 
their  worship  to  this.  Secondly,  this  was  commanded 
to  the  disciples,  while  yet  weak,  before  they  had  re- 
ceived the  dispensation  of  the  Gospel ;  not  that  they 
should  only  use  it  in  praying,  but  that  He  might  show 
them  by  one  example,  how  that  their  prayers  ought  to 
be  short,  and  not  like  the  long  prayers  of  the  Pharisees. 
And  that  this  was  the  use  of  it,  appears  by  all  their 
prayers,  which  divers  saints  afterwards  made  use  of, 
whereof  the  Scripture  makes  mention  ;  for  none  made 
use  of  this,  neither  repeated  it,  but  used  other  words,  ac- 
cording as  the  thing  required,  and  as  the  spirit  gave 
utterance.  Thirdly,  that  this  ought  to  be  so  understood, 
appears  from  Rom.  viii.  26,  where  the  Apostle  saith, 
*  We  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  we  ought, 
but  the  spirit  itself  maketh  intercession  for  us,'  &c. 
But  if  this  prayer  had  been  such  a  prescribed  form  of 
prayer  to  the  church,  that  had  not  been  true,  neither 
had  they  been  ignorant  what  to  pray,  nor  should  they 
have  needed  the  help  of  the  spirit  to  teach  them."  (p. 
392.)  "  Our  adversaries,  whose  religion  is  all  for  the 
most  part  outside,  and  such  whose  acts  are  the  mere 
product  of  man's  natural  will  and  abilities,  as  they  can 
preach,  so  can  they  pray  when  they  please,  and  there- 
fore have  their  set  particular  prayers.  I  meddle  not 
with  the  controversies  among  themselves  concerning 
this,  some  of  them  being  for  set  'prayers  as  a  liturgy^ 
others  for  such  as  are  conceived  extempore:  it  suffices 


APPENDIX 


303 


me  that  all  of  tliem  agree  in  this, — that  the  motions 
and  influence  of  the  spirit  of  God  are  not  necessary  to 
be  previous  thereunto ;  and  therefore,  they  have  set 
times  in  their  public  worship,  as  before  and  after  preach- 
ing, and  in  x\\q\x  private  devotion,  as  mm-ning  and  eve- 
nings and  before  and  after  meat,  and  other  such  occa- 
sions, at  which  they  precisely  set  about  the  performing 
of  their  prayers,  by  speaking  words  to  God,  whether 
they  feel  any  motion  or  influence  of  the  spirit  or  not ; 
so  that  some  of  the  chiefest  have  confessed  that  they 
have  thus  prayed  without  the  motions  or  assistance  of 
the  spirit,  acknowledging  that  they  sinned  in  so  doing  ; 
yet  they  said  they  looked  upon  it  as  their  duty  so  to  do, 
though  to  pray  without  the  spirit  be  sin.  We  freely 
confess  that  prayer  is  both  very  profitable,  and  a  neces- 
sary duty  commanded,  and  fit  to  be  practised  frequent- 
ly by  all  Christians  ;  but  as  we  can  do  nothing  without 
Christ,  so  neither  can  we  pray  without  the  concurrence 
and  assistance  of  his  Spirit.  But  that  the  state  of  the 
controversy  may  be  the  better  understood,  let  it  be 
considered,  first,  that  prayer  is  two-fold,  inward  and 
outward.  Inward  prayer  is  that  secret  turning  of  the 
mind  towards  God,  whereby,  being  secretly  touched 
and  awakened  by  the  light  of  Christ  in  the  conscience, 
and  so  bowed  down  under  the  sense  of  its  iniquities, 
un worthiness,  and  misery,  it  looks  up  to  God,  and  join- 
ing with  the  secret  shinings  of  the  seed  of  God,  it 
breathes  toward  Him,  and  is  constantly  breathing  forth 
some  secret  desires  and  aspirations  towards  Him.  It 
is  in  this  sense  that  we  are  so  frequently  in  Scripture 
commanded  to  pray  continuaVy,  which  cannot  be  under- 
stood of  outward  prayer,  because  it  were  impossible 
that  men  should  be  always  upon  their  knees,  express- 
ing words  of  prayer  ;  and  this  would  hinder  them  from 
the  exercise  of  those  duties  no  less  positively  command- 
ed. Outward  prayer  is,  when  as  the  spirit,  being  thus 
in  the  exercise  of  inward  retirement,  and  feeling  the 
breathing  of  the  spirit  of  God  to  arise  powerfully  in 
the  soul,  receives  strength  and  liberty  by  a  superadded 
motion  and  influence  to  bring  forth  eiiher  audible  sighs, 
groans,  or  words,  and  that  either  in  public  assem- 
blies, or  in  private,  or  at  meat,  &c.    As  then  inward 


304 


APPENDIX. 


prayer  is  necessary  at  all  limes^  so,  so  long  as  the  day 
of  every  man's  visitation  lasteth,  he  never  w^ants  some 
influence,  less  or  more,  for  the  practice  of  it ;  because 
he  no  sooner  retires  in  his  mind,  and  considers  himself  in 
God's  presence,  but  he  finds  himself  in  the  practice  of 
it.  The  outvi^ard  exercise  of  prayer,  ae  needing  a 
greater  diiidisuj^er added  influence  and  motion  of  the  Spirit, 
as  it  cannot  be  continually  practised,  so  neither  can  it 
be  so  readily,  so  as  to  be  effectually  performed,  until 
his  mind  be  some  time  acquainted  w^ith  the  invv^ard," 
&c.  (p.  397.)  "  If  any  man  know  not  how  to  pray, 
neither  can  do  it  without  the  help  of  the  Spirit,  then  it 
is  to  no  purpose  for  him,  but  altogether  uTiproJitahle,  to 
pray  without  it." 

J.  Penington  (Works,  Vol  I.  p.  21  ) :  Mark,  all 
prayer  and  supplication  must  be  in  the  Spirit  ;  Yea,  it 
must  be  always  in  the  Spirit,  which  speaks  in  the  heart 
to  God,  and  makes  the  intercession,  or  it  is  no  prayer. 
If  a  man  speak  ever  so  much  from  his  own  spirit, 
with  ever  so  much  earnestness  and  affection,  yet  it  is 
no  prayer,  no  true  prayer,  but  only  so  far  as  the  Spirit 
moves  to  it,  and  so  far  as  the  Spirit  leads  and  guides  in 
it." 

ON  WORSHIP. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (On  the  Sabbath,  p.  105)  :  In  frequent- 
ing the  solemn  assemblies  of  the  Lord's  people,  we 
ought  to  cultivate  a  joyful  and  thankful  Spirit ;  to 
^raz^.our  minds  to  a  vivid  ^perception  the  beauty  of 
holiness  ;  and  to  deliglit  ourselves  in  the  worship  of 
God.  Let  us  ever  remember  that  on  these  occasions 
we  meet  for  the  purpose  oi  commemorating  the  glories 
of  creation,  the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  providence, 
and  the  wonders  of  redeeming  love." 

(Sketch  of  Wilberforce,  Norwich,  p.  7.  1838.)  "In 
the  autumn  of  1816,  I  well  remember  going  over  from 
the  place  of  my  own  residence  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Norwich,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  so  great  a 
man,  and  partly  for  that  of  persuading  him  to  join  our 
party,  at  the  time  of  the  approaching  anniversaries  of 
the  Norfolk  Bible  and  Church  Missionary  Societies.'* 


APPENDIX. 


305 


Contrast  the  above  with — 

Pwhert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  XL  p.  351,  &c.):  "  We 
judge  it  the  duty  of  all  to  be  diligent  in  the  assembling 
of  themselves  together — and  when  assembled,  the 
great  work  of  one  and  all  ought  to  be  to  wait  upon  God ; 
and  returning  out  of  their  own  thoughts  and  imaginations, 
to  feel  the  Lord's  presence,  and  know  a  gathering  into 
his  name  indeed,  w^iere  he  is  in  the  77iidst,  according  to 
his  promise.  And  as  every  one  is  thus  gathered,  and 
so  met  together  inwardly  in  their  spirits,  as  well  as  out- 
wardly in  their  persons,  there  the  secret  power  and 
virtue  of  life  is  known  to  refresh  the  soul,  and  the  pure 
motions  and  breathings  of  God's  Spirit  are  fek  to  arise  ; 
from  which,  as  words  of  declaration,  prayers  or  praises 
arise,  the  acceptable  worship  is  known,  which  edifies 
the  church,  and  is  well  pleasing  to  God.  And  no  man 
here  limits  the  Spirit  of  God  ;  but  every  one  puts  that 
forth  which  the  Lord  puts  into  their  hearts  :  and  it  is 
uttered  forth,  not  in  mar^s  will  and  ivisdom,  but  in  the 
evidence  and  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and  of  power. 
Yea,  though  there  be  not  a  word  spoken,  yet  is  the 
true  spiritual  worship  performed,  and  the  body  of 
Christ  edified  ;  yea,  it  may,  and  hath  often  fallen  out 
among  us,  that  divers  meetings  have  passed  without 
one  word  ;  and  yet  our  souls  have  been  greatly  edified 
and  refreshed,  and  our  hearts  wonderfully  overcome 
with  the  secret  sense  of  God's  power  and  spirit." 

William  Penn  (Primitive  Cliristianity  Revived,  chap. 
X.)  :  **  As  the  Lord  wrought  effectually,  by  his  divine 
grace,  in  the  hearts  of  this  people,  so  he  thereby  brought 
them  to  a  divine  worship  and  ministry  :  Christ's  words 
they  came  to  experience,  viz.,  that  God  was  a  Spirit, 
and  that  he  would  therefore  be  worshipped  in  the 
spirit,  and  in  the  truth,  and  that  such  worshippers  the 
Father  would  seek  to  worship  him  %  For,  bowing  to 
the  convictions  of  the  SjDirit  in  themselves,  in  their  daily 
course  of  living,  by  which  they  were  brought  to  eschew 
that  which  was  made  manifest  to  them  to  be  evil,  and 
to  do  that  which  w-as  good,  they,  in  their  assembling 
together,  sat  dowm  and  waited  for  the  preparation  of 


306 


APPENDIX. 


his  Holy  Spirit,  both  to  let  them  see  their  own  states 
and  conditions  before  the  Lord,  and  to  worship  Him 
acceptably;  and  as  they  were  sensible  of  wants,  or 
shortness,  or  infirmities,  so  in  the  secret  of  their  own 
hearts,  prayer  would  spring  to  God,  through  Jesus 
Christ,  to  help,  assist  and  supply  :  but  they  did  not 
dare  to  *  awaken  their  beloved  before  his  time,'  or  ap- 
proach the  throne  of  the  King  of  Glory,  till  he  held 
out  his  sceptre  ;  or  take  thought  what  they  should 
say,  ox  after  their  oivn,  or  other  mens  studied  words  and 
forms  ;  for  this  were  to  offer  strange  fire,  fee."  So  that 
it  is  this  people's  principle,  that  fire  must  come  from 
heaven,  life  and  power  from  God,  to  enable  the  soul  to 
pour  out  itself  acceptably  before  him.  And  when  a 
coal  from  His  holy  altar  touches  our  lips,  then  can  we 
pray  and  praise  Him  as  we  ought  to  do." 

I.  Peningto?t  (Works  Vol.  II.  p.  249.):  "  What  is  the 
worship,  or  what  are  the  sacrifices,  which  the  true 
worshippers  offer  up  to  God  in  this  holy  place  1 — 
Answer. — the  gifts  of  His  Spirit.  These  they  offer 
up,  and  nothing  else.  The  breathings  which  the 
Father  gives  into  the  heart  of  the  child,  they  are 
breathed  back  unto  Him  in  the  same  spirit  of  life ;  in 
the  living  sense,  in  the  quickening  power.  Nothing 
of  man's  wisdom,  nothing  of  man's  invention,  nothing 
according  to  man's  will,  nothing  that  would  please  the 
flesh,  or  seem  glorious  in  its  eye,  is  offered  up  there  ; 
but  the  exhortations,  or  directions,  or  reproofs,  that 
spring  up  in  God's  light,  in  God's  wisdom,  they  are 
given  forth  in  the  leadings,  and  by  the  guidance  of  His 
Spirit,  and  they  reach  to  the  hearts  of  those  to  whom 
He  pleased  to  direct  them.  And  this  is  the  ground  of 
such  meetings,  and  breakings,  and  convictions  of  soul, 
(and  such  like  inward  operations)  as  are  frequently 
found  in  such  assemblies.  For  the  living  God  is  there, 
and  the  dread  of  His  power  overspreads  the  hearts  of 
such  as  are  gathered  into  and  assembled  in  His  name  ; 
and  the  life  springs  in  the  earthen  vessels,  and  the 
Saviour  is  precious  to  all  that  have  their  spiritual 
senses." 


APPENDIX. 


307 


RESURRECTIOX. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essays,  p.  134)  :  **  With  respect  to  the 
impenitent  wicked,  their  lot  during  the  separate  state,  is 
described  as  one  of  pain  or  punishment,  &:c." 

(p.  141.)  "  He  [man]  has  within  him  a  never  dying 
spirit ;  and  even  that  part  of  him  which  is  destined  to 
moulder  in  the  grave,  shall  in  the  end  be  found  the 
seed  of  a  spiritual  body,  and  shall  be  clothed  with  incor- 
ruption  and  immortality." 

(Portable  Evidences,  p.  151.)  *'  As  it  relates  to  the 
faithful  followers  of  Christ,  the  resurrection  of  the  hody 
clearly  forms  a  part  of  the  scheme  of  redemption.  It 
is  represented  in  Scripture  as  the  last  step  to  the  full- 
ness of  their  happiness,  &c. 

Contrast  this  with 

George  Fox  (Doctrinal  Works,  p.  466)  :  "  Is  not  this 
your  condition,  that  make  such  a  work  about  the  body 
of  Christ,  and  with  what  bodies  people  shall  be  raised 
up;  and  the  Apostle  saith  to  such:  "  Thou  fool,  that 
w4iich  thou  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die;  and 
that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  that  hody  that 
shall  he.''  So  he  tells  here  plainly  it  is  not  the  same, 
and  calls  thee  a  fool  that  questionest.  If  thou  sowest 
wheat  or  other  corn,  let  the  husbandmen  answer  thee  in 
this." 

(p.  467.)  And  the  apostle  further  saith,  '  Behold  I 
show  you  a  mystery  ;  w^e  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we 
shall  be  changed'  jNIark — be  changed.  So  not  the 
same  :  which  the  husbandman  will  teach  thee." 

(p.  946.)  And  Christ  saith,  'Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
except  a  corn  of  wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it 
abideth  alone ;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much 
fruit.'  So,  what  the  husbandman  soweth,  whether 
wheat  or  other  seed,  he  soweth — mark — he  soweth 
not  that  b<")dy  that  shall  be  ;  but  God  giveth  it  a  body 
as  it  pleasethHim  and  to  every  seed  its  own  body,"  &c. 

Win.  Penn  (Testimony  to  the  Truth  of  God,  Works, 
Vol.  3,  p.  523)  :  "  Because  from  the  authority  of  Holy 
Scripture,  as  well  as  right  reason,  we  deny  the  resur- 


308 


APPENDIX. 


rection  of  the  same  gross  and  corruptible  body,  and  are 
neither  over  inquisitive  nor  critical  about  what  bodies 
we  shall  have  at  the  resurrection,  leaving  it  to  the 
Lord,  to  give  us  such  bodies  as  he  pleases,  (and  with 
that  we  are  well  pleased  and  satisfied,  and  wish  all 
others  were  so  too ;)  from  hence  we  are  made  not  only 
deniers  of  the  resurrection  of  any  body  at  all,  however 
spiritual  or  glorified,  but  eternal  rewards  too." 

(Defence  of  Gospel  Truths,  Works,  Vol.  3,  p.  549) : 
"  Here  it  is  we  are  cautious,  and  tread  softly,  remem- 
bering what  the  apostle  says  to  the  curious  and  inqui- 
sitive upon  this  head.  '  But  some  man  will  say,  how 
are  the  dead  raised  up,  and  with  what  bodies  do  they 
come  ? 

Thou  fool,  thou  sowest  not  that  body  which  shall 
be,  but  bare  grain.  But  God  giveth  it  a  body  as  it 
hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every  seed  its  own  body.' 
Here  is  the  ground  of  our  caution,  which  the  bishop  is 
pleased  to  call  suppression,  and  others,  denying  of  the  re- 
surrection. (We  have  indeed  been  negative  to  the  gross 
conceit  of  people  concerning  the  rising  of  this  carnal 
body  we  carry  about  with  us,  which  better  agrees  with 
the  Koran  of  Mahomet,  than  the  gospel  of  Christ :  but 
that  there  is  a  resurrection  of  the  just  and  unjust 
to  rewards  and  punishment,  we  have  ever  believed." 
Bodies  we  shall  have,  hut  not  the  same,  sdi.ys  the  apostle, 
and  so  believes  the  Quaker." 

THE  ATONEMENT. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essay  on  Love  to  God,  p.  40) :  Be- 
hold the  glorious  partner  of  the  Father's  throne,  freely 
opening  his  bosom  to  the  vials  of  His  wrath^  groaning 
and  bleeding  on  the  cross,"  &c. 

(p.  45.)  "  Let  us  call  to  mind,  that  in  that  hour  of 
unutterable  desertion,  the  righteous  vengeance  of  God, 
against  a  guilty  world,  was  poured  forth  upon  the  inno- 
cent substitute." 

[How  does  this  agree  with  the  text,  "God  so 
loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  His  only  begotten 
Son,"&c.  Ed.] 


APPENDIX. 


309 


ON  THE  FATHER,  SON,  AND  HOLY  SPIRIT. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essays,  pp.  108,  109.) :  The  very 
pointed  allusions  made  by  our  Saviour  to  the  'person- 
ality of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  in  exact  accordance  with . 
the  mode  of  expression  which  was  often  adopted,  in 
relation  to  the  same  subject,  by  his  inspired  disciples. 
From  various  passages  in  the  Book  of  Acts,  and  the 
Epistles,  we  can  scarcely  do  otherwise  than  deduce 
the  inference,  that  these  seiTants  of  the  Lord  regarded' 
the  Holy  Spirit  as  one  possessing  ^er^o^aZ  powers,  and 
requiring  di.  personal  allegiance." 

(Ibid.  p.  110.)  "Such  is  the  scriptural  evidence  of 
which  we  are  in  possession,  that  the  Father  is  God, 
that  the  Son  is  God,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  God.  Hav- 
ing considered  this  evidence,  we  may  now  proceed  to 
take  a  view  of  some  additional  passages  in  the  New 
Testament,  in  which  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  whose  deity  is  thus  distinctively  and  separately 
indicated,  are  presented  to  our  attention  as  the  united 
sources  of  the  Christian's  help  and  consolation,  the 
united  objects  of  the  Christian's  belief  and  obedience. 
This  description  is  indeed  applicable  to  the  passages 
already  cited  from  the  Gospel  of  John,  in  relation  to 
the  personality  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  &c. 

(Essays,  pp.  112,  113.)  "In  order  to  obtain  a  just 
and  comprehensive  view  of  the  whole  subject,  (as  far 
as  it  is  revealed  to  us)  it  is  necessary  also  to  advert  to 
the  order  of  that  relation  in  which  they  are  ever  repre- 
sented as  standing  one  towards  another.  The  Father 
is  the  first ;  the  Son  is  the  second ;  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  third.  The  Son  is  subordinate  to  the  Father,  be- 
cause he  is  of  the  Father — the  only  begotten  Son  of 
God.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  subordinate  to  the  Father 
and  the  Son,  because  he  is  the  Father's  and  the  Son's; 
see  Matt.  iii.  16,  and  Rom.  viii.  9.  The  Father  sends 
the  Son.  The  Father  and  the  Son  send  the  Holy 
Spirit,  John  xv.  26." 

(Ibid.  p.  113.)  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  operative 
power,  through  whom  the  Father  and  the  Son  can-y  on 
the  work  of  mercy,  and  exercise  their  dominion  of  the 


310 


APPENDIX. 


souls  of  men.  It  is  He  who  enlightens,  converts, 
renews,  consoles,  and  purifies  the  heirs  of  salvation. 
The  Father  is,  in  the  deepest  and  most  comprehensive 
sense  of  the  expressions,  the  Creator — the  Son,  the 
Redeemer — the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Sanctifier.  The  Fa- 
ther originates,  the  Son  mediates,  the  Holy  Sprit  con- 
summates." 

(Essays,  p.  393.) :  On  a  careful  perusal  of  the 
whole  of  that  Sacred  Volume,  he  [an  honest  inquirer 
after  truth]  is  led  to  take  a  view,  first,  of  the  natural 
and  moral  attributes  of  the  Supreme  Being  ;  secondly, 
of  the  personality  and  unity,  in  Him,  of  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Spirit,"  &c. 

(Portable  Evidences,  p.  74.  Boston  edit.  1833.) 
"  When  our  Saviour  was  about  to  quit  this  lower  world, 
he  commanded  his  disciples  to  go  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the  '  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost;'  from  which  expres- 
sions we  learn  that  these  servants  of  God  were  to  bap- 
tize their  converts  into  that  faith,  of  which  the  Father, 
the  Son,  and  the  Spirit,  are  the  inseparable  objects. 
Now  since  it  cannot  for  a  moment  be  imasfined  that  a 
mere  attribute  or  influence  could  be  presented  to  us, 
as  a  joint  object  of  our  faith  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  this  passage  must  he  regarded  as  containing  a  clear 
evidence  of  the  i^ersonality  of  the  Spirit^ 

Compare  the  foregoing  with 

George  Fox  :  Atid  it  is  the  Spirit  that  beareth  wit- 
ness, because  the  Spirit  is  truth  ;  for  there  are  three 
that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the  Father,  the  Word,  and 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  these  three  are  One  ;  and  there 
are  three  which  bear  record  in  earth,  &c.  1  John  v. 
6,  7.  And  now  let  none  be  offended,  because  we  do 
not  call  them  by  those  unscriptural  names  of  Trinity, 
and  Three  Persons,  which  are  not  Scripture  words." — 
See  Evans'  Exposition,  pp.  2,  3. 

Barclay  (ibid.  p.  5.)  ;  "  Again,  according  to  his 
[Brown's]  custom,  though  I  condemn  the  Socinians,  he 
will  be  insinuating  that  I  agree  with  him :  to  whose 


APPENDIX. 


311 


notions  of  the  Spirit,  albeit  I  assent  not,  yet  I  desire  to 
knuw  of  him,  in  what  Scripture  he  finds  these  words 
that  the  Spirit  is  a  distinct  person  of  the  Trinity." 

William  Pcnn  (ibid.  p.  7.) :  "  But  they  are  very  ten- 
der of  quitting  scripture  terms  and  phrases  for  school- 
men's, such  as  distinct  and  separate  persons  and  sub- 
sistences, &c.  are  ;  from  whence  people  are  apt  to  en- 
tertain gross  ideas  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy 
Ghost." 

I.  Penington  (ibid.  p.  10.)  :  "  That  there  are  *  three 
that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the  Father,  the  Word,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit that  these  three  are  distinct,  as  three 
several  hemgs  or  Persons  ;  this  they  read  not  ;  but  in 
the  same  place,  they  read  '  they  are  one.'  " 

Francis  Howgill  (ibid.  p.  12.)  :  First,  concerning 
the  Trinity,  thou  sayest,  they  confess  the  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Ghost,  and  yet  they  deny  the  Trinity,  and 
those  to  be  three  distinct  persons  ;  for  confutation  of 
this,  thou  bringest  Heb.  i.  3 — He  is  the  express  image 
of  his  Father's  person." 

"  Thy  Trinity  is  an  old  Popish  term,  and  we  love  to 
keep  to  sound  icords  ;  but  by  Trinity,  I  suppose  thou 
meanest  three,  and  thy  own  words  shall  confute  thee. 
Thou  confessest  we  say,  there  is  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost,  and  yet  but  one  God.^  or  one  eternal 
being  or  substance,  in  which  they  all  subsist ;  but  thy 
word  distinct  is  thy  own,  and  not  the  Spirit's ;  yet  to 
distinguish  betwixt  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  we  deny 
not  :  and  as  for  Heb.  i.  3,  it  is  in  another  translation 
rendered,  the  express  image  of  his  substance  ;  for 
Person  is  too  gross  a  word  to  express  an  Eternal  and 
Divine  Being  in  ;  and  if  thou  dost  hold  three  distinct 
substances,  thou  errest  in  thy  judgment,  for  that  were 
to  make  three  Gods." 

Wdliam  Chandler,  Alexander  Pyott,  Jos.  Hodges,  and 
others  (ibid.  p.  17.)  :  We  believe  that  great  mystery, 
that  they  are  three  that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the  Fa- 


312 


APPENDIX, 


ther,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  these  three  are  one 
bemg  and  substance." 

R.  Claridge  (ibid.  2.  21.) :  "  Therefore  in  this,  and 
all  other  articles  of  faith  and  doctrines  of  religion,  in 
common  to  be  believed,  in  order  to  eternal  salvation, 
let  not  the  opinions,  explications,  or  conceptions  of  men 
which  are  often  dubious,-  various,  or  erroneous,  be 
esteemed  a  rule  or  standard,  but  let  every  one  rely  on 
the  divine  testimony  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which 
declare  that  God  is  one,  and  that  there  is  none  other 
besides  Him;  and  that  the  One  God  is  Father,  Son, 
and  Holy  Spirit ;  or,  as  it  is  expressed,  1  John  v.  7 — 
'  The  Father,  the  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.' 

And  as  we  distinguish  between  a  Scripture  Trinity, 
Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  which  we  unfeignedly 
believe  ;  and  that  humanly  devised  Trinity  of  three  dis- 
tinct, and  separate  persons,  which  ive  receive  not,  because 
the  Holy  Scriptures  make  no  mention  of  it." 

Thus  spoke  our  ancient  Friends  ;  and  that  the  So- 
ciety still  continues  to  hold  this  doctrine  may  be  infer- 
red from  the  following  extract,  taken  from  Foster's  Re- 
ports, Volume  I.  p.  292  : 

Cross- Examination  of  Thomas  Evans. 

Question.  "  If  you  hold  that  there  is  no  contrariety 
of  will  in  them,  do  you  hold  that  they  are,  in  any  man- 
ner, distinct?" 

Answer.  We  have  always  denied  that  the  Deity 
consisted  of  distinct  and  separate  persons  :  and  while 
we  have  believed  that  there  were  three,  have  as  uni- 
formly maintained  that  those  three  are  One." 

Counsel.       The  question  is  not  fully  answered." 

Witness.  "  If  the  Counsel  will  explain  his  meaning 
of  the  term  distinct,  as  used  in  the  question,  T  will  en- 
deavor to  answer  it  further." 

Counsel.  "  The  question  is.  Do  you  hold  that  they 
are  in  any  manner  distinct .?" 

Witness.  "  I  have  already  stated  that  the  Society  of 
Friends  do  not  believe  that  there  are  distinct  and  sepa- 


APPENDIX. 


313 


rate  persmis  in  tlie  Godhead ;  and  have  answered  him  in 
Scripture  terms  as  regards  what  the  Society  do  be- 
lieve," &c. 

MORAL   SENSE,  ETC. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Essays,  p.  365.)  It  will,  I  presume, 
be  without  difficulty  allowed,  that  these  observations 
are  in  a  general,  yet  very  important  sense,  applicable 
to  all  men,  whether  they  are  partakers  in  the  benefit  of 
an  outward  revelation,  or  are  left  to  that  which  is 
usually  described  as  the  light  of  nature.  If  we  admit 
that  mankind,  without  an  outward  revelation,  are 
nevertheless  sinners,  we  must  also  admit  that  mankind, 
without  such  a  revelation,  are  nevertheless  in  posses- 
sion of  the  law  of  God  ;  for  we  are  expressly  told  by 
one  apostle,  that  'where  no  law  is,  there  is  no  trans- 
gression;' (Rom.  iv.  15.)  and  by  another,  that  sin  is  the 
transgression  of  the  law;  (1  John  iii.  4.)  declarations 
which  obviously  correspond  with  the  dictates  of  sound 
reason. 

The  law  to  which  I  now  allude,  and  which  is  uni- 
versally bestowed  upon  men,  is  xhdl  moral  sense  of  right 
and  wrong,  by  which  the  natural  conscience  is  directed 
and  illuminated,  and  which,  unless  perverted  by  pre- 
judice, or  seared  by  the  fatal  operation  of  vice,  it  never 
fails  to  bear  witness."* 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Strictures  on  "  Truth  Vindicated,"  p. 
25.)  :  "  To  denominate  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  a  Rule, 
as  does  this  author  in  the  last  mentioned  extract,  in- 
volves  the  danger  of  a  very  fatal  heresy  ;  it  obviously 
tends  to  divest  him  of  his  personality,  and  to  convert 
him  into  a  principle. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  author  of  the  Truth  Vindi- 
cated, does  not  hesitate  to  insinuate  that  without  any 
instruction  whatsoever  in  Christianity,  every  creature 


*  "  For  my  own  pait,  I  beg  it  may  be  uuderstood,  that  '  by  the 
light  of  nature,'  I  mean,  simply,  the  Hght  which  God  has  communi- 
cated to  the  sculs  of  men  independently  of  on  outwardly  revealed 
religion." — Note,  at  p.  365  and  366. 

14 


314 


APPENDIX. 


under  heaven  may  have  the  saving  knowledge  of  the 
*  gospel  of  life  and  salvation  through  Jesus  Christ.'  " 

(Essays,  p.  361.)  "  Prone  to  iniquity,  and  transgres- 
sorsfrom  the  womh,  we  are  alienated  from  God,  who  is 
the  source  of  all  happiness  ;  and,  in  the  world  to  come, 
eternal  separation  from  him,  and,  therefore,  eternal 
misery  is  the  consequence  of  our  evil  doings." 

(Portable  Evidences,  p.  165.)  "In  himself  indeed,  as 
a  transgressor  from  his  hirth,  he  is  vile  and  polluted,  but 
by  the  blood  of  Jesus  sprinked  on  his  heart,  his  con- 
science is  purged  from  every  dead  work  ;  and  having 
obtained  an  interest  in  the  Saviour  of  men,  he  wears  a 
robe  of  righteousness  in  which  there  is  no  spot." 

Rohert  Barclay  (Apol.  Prop.  V.  &  VI.  p.  177.) :  "And 
certainly  hence  it  is,  even  because  this  light  seed  and 
grace  that  appears  in  the  heart  of  man  is  so  little  re- 
garded, and  so  much  overlooked,  that  so  few  know 
Christ  brought  forth  in  them." 

(p.  178.)  "  Some  will  have  it  to  be  reason ;  some,  a 
natural  conscience  ;  some,  certain  reliques  of  God's  image 
that  remained  in  Adam.  So  that  Christ,  as  He  met 
with  opposition  from  all  kinds  of  professors  in  his  out- 
ward appearance,  doth  now  also  in  the  inward." 

(ibid.  p.  182.)  "It  [the  saving  grace]  testifies  that  it 
is  no  natural  principle  or  light,  but  saith  plainly,  it 
brings  salvation." 

(ibid.  Prop.  XI.  p.  382.)  '*  For  we  must  cease  to  do 
evil,  ere  we  learn  to  do  well ;  and  this  meddling  in 
things  spiritual  by  man's  own  natural  understanding,  is 
one  of  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous  evils  that  man  is 
incident  to  ;  being  that  which  occasioned  our  first  pa- 
rents' fall,  to  wit,  a  forwaidness  to  desu'e  to  know 
things,  and  a  meddling  with  them,  both  without  and 
contrary  to  the  Lord's  command." 

(ibid.  Prop.  IV.  p.  95.)  ''Nevertheless,  this  seed  is 
not  imputed  to  infants,  until  by  transgression  they 
actually  join  themselves  therewith  ;  for  they  are  by  na- 
ture the  children  of  wrath,  who  walk  according  to  the 
power  of  the  prince  of  the  air,  the  spirit  that  now 
worketh  in  the  children  of  disobedience,  having  their 


APPENDIX. 


315 


conversation  in  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  fulfilling  the  de- 
sires of  the  flesh  and  tlie  mind."' 

(ibid.  p.  104.)  *'  Than  which  testimonies  there  is 
nothing  more  positive  ;  since  to  infants  there  is  no  law, 
seeing  as  such  they  are  utterly  incapable  of  it ;  the  law 
cannot  reach  any  but  such  as  have  in  some  measure 
less  or  more  the  exercise  of  their  understanding,  which 
infants  have  not." 

Phipps  (Original  and  Present  State  of  Man,  p.  32.)  : 
"  All  the  personal  instructions  and  writings  of  the  pro- 
phets, apostles,  and  their  coteraporaries,  taken  in  their 
full  extent,  have  never  been  any  thing  near  so  univei- 
sal  amongst  mankind  as  this  grace  and  power  of  God; 
for  it  always  hath  been,  and  is  present  to  every  indi- 
vidual in  all  nations  and  throughout  all  generations." 

THE  AXOIiVTIxVG— CHRIST  IX  MAX. 

J.  J.  Gurncy  (Brief  Remarks,  p.  8.)  :  For  the  same 
reason  we  cannot  but  object  to  the  doctrine  that 
Christ  is  the  Anointing.  Truly  he  is  the  Anointed  of 
the  Father,  and  the  Anointer  of  his  own  people  ;  but 
who  on  that  account  would  think  of  identifying  him 
with  the  Anointing!  that  is,  with  the  enlightening, 
qualifying  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ] 

"  This  peculiar  notion  is  also  occasionally  applied 
amongst  us,  to  a  highly  important  passage  in  the  Epis- 
tle of  Paul  to  the  Colossians,  where  he  speaks  of  the 
*  mystery  which  hath  been  hid  from  age^  and  genera- 
tions, but  now  is  made  manifest  unto  the  saints,'  to 
whom  he  adds,  God  would  make  known  what  is  the 
riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles, 
which  is  'Christ  in  you  the  hope  of  glory,'  Col.  i.  26. 
The  words  '  Christ  in  you,'  are  often  recited  by  mis- 
take, as  *  Christ  within  ;'  and  these  expressions  are 
sometimes  used  amongst  us  as  a  synonyme  f(>r  the  light 
of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  the  heart — a  view  which  some 
have  imagined  to  be  supported  by  the  apostle's  treating 
the  whole  subject  as  a  '  mystery.'  Hence  it  necessa- 
rily follows,  that  the  light  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  the 


316 


APPENDIX. 


heart,  is  the  same  as  Christ  himself,  and  is  represented 
as  the  hope  of  glory.  The  plain  fact,  however,  appears 
to  be,  that  the  mystery  of  which  the  apostle  is  speaking, 
is  that  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  a  sub- 
ject which  had  indeed  been  typically  shadowed  forth  to 
the  Jews,  but  had  been  totally  concealed  from  the 
Gentiles  ;  kept  secret  since  the  world  began,  but 
^\  as  now  made  known  to  the  saints,  (1  Tim.  iii.  16.) 
and  without  controversy  great  is  the  mystery  of  godli- 
ness. God  was  manifested  in  the  flesh,  justified  in  the 
Spirit,  seen  of  angels,  preached  unto  the  Gentiles,  be- 
lieved on  in  the  world,  received  up  into  glory.  No 
sooner  did  the  Gentiles,  by  a  living  faith,  accept  the 
Saviour,  who  was  thus  preached  unto  them  ;  no  sooner 
did  they  receive  him  into  their  hearts,  that  he  might 
rule  there  by  his  Spirit,  than  Christ  was  in  them  the 
hope  of  glory,  Eph.  iii.  17,  '  that  Christ  may  dwell  in 
your  hearts  by  faith  ;'  and  2  Cor.  xiii,  5,  '  Know  ye  not 
your  ownselves,how  that  Jesus  Christ  is  in  you,  except 
ye  be  reprobates  V  So  also  John  vi.  56,  *  He  that 
eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  mj  blood,  dwelleth  in  me 
and  I  in  him;'  John  xvii.  26,  '  That  the  love  where- 
with thou  hast  loved  me,  may  be  in  them  and  I  in 
them.' 

The  true  view  of  this  subject,  and  in  particular  of 
the  passage  now  cited  from  Colossians,  is  briefly  but 
happily  stated  in  the  General  Epistle  from  our  last 
Yearly  Meeting  :  'As  the  Holy  Spirit  influences  our 
hearts,  and  enlightens  our  understandings,  we  are 
brought  to  a  lively  apprehension  of  the  character  and 
offices  of  the  Messiah,  and  Christ  received  by  faith  into 
the  soul,  and,  ruling  there  by  his  Spirit,  becomes  our 
sure  and  only  hope  of  glory.'  Here  then  is  a  full  testi- 
mony to  vital,  practical,  inward  religion,  but  no  mysti- 
cism. These  mistakes,  especially  John  i.  9,  and  Col. 
i.  26 — 28,  have  often  been  made  by  persons  who  cor- 
dially accept  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  all  his  gracious 
offices,  both  as  God  and  man. 

*'  Thus  the  errors  themselves  have  naturally  enough 
been  suffered  to  pass  with  but  little  notice.  But  with 
some  who  have  seceded  from  us  in  America,  they  have 
evidently  heen  the  means  of  aiding  that  tremendous  pro- 


APPENDIX. 


317 


cess  in  heresy,  by  which  the  Eternal  Word,  or  Son  of 
God,  is  gradually  converted  into  a  mere  influence,  and 
finally  becomes  nothing  at  all  but  a  seed  sown  in  the 
hearts  of  all  men," 

Contrast  the  above  with 

Barclay  (Apology,  p.  5'2.)  :  "  The  apostle  proposeth 
this  anointing  in  them,  as  a  more  certain  touch- stone 
for  them  to  discern  and  try  seducers  by,  even  than  his 
own  writings." 

(pp.  138,  139.)  But  we  understand  a  spiritual,  hea- 
venly, and  invisible  principle,  in  which  God,  as  Father, 
Son,  and  Spirit  dwells  ;  a  measure  of  which  divine  and 
glorious  life  is  in  all  men  as  a  seed,  which  of  its  own  na- 
ture draws,  invites,  and  inclines  to  God ;  and  this,  some 
call  vehiculum  Dei,  or  the  spiritual  body  of  Christ,  the 
flesh  and  blood  of  Christ,  which  came  down  from  heaven, 
of  which  all  the  saints  do  feed,  and  are  thereby  nour- 
ished unto  eternal  life. 

"  And  as  this  seed  is  received  in  the  heart,  and  suf- 
fered to  bring  forth  its  natural  and  proper  effect,  Christ 
comes  to  be  formed  and  laised,  of  which  the  Scripture 
makes  so  much  mention,  calling  it  the  new  man,  Christ 
within,  the  hope  of  glory.  This  is  that  Christ  within, 
which  we  are  heard  so  much  to  speak  and  declare  of, 
every  where  preaching  him  up,  and  exhorting  people  to 
believe  in  the  light,  and  obey  it,  that  they  may  come  to 
know  Christ  in  them,  to  deliver  them  from  all  sin. 

"But by  this,  as  we  do  not  at  all  intend  to  equal  our- 
selves to  that  holy  man,  the  Liord  Jesus  Christ,  who  was 
born  of  the  Virgin  Mary^  in  whom  all  the  fullness  of 
the  Godhead  dwelt  bodily,  so  neither  do  we  destroy  the 
reality  of  his  present  existence,  as  some  have  falsely  ca- 
lumniated us.  For  though  we  affirm  that  Christ  dwells 
in  us,  yet  not  immediately,  but  mediately,  as  he  is  in 
that  seed,  which  is  iii  us  ;  whereas  he,  to  wit,  the  Eter- 
nal Word,  which  was  with  God,  and  was  God,  dwelt 
immediately  in  that  holy  man. 

*'  We  understand  not  this  seed,  light,  or  grace,  to  bean 
accident,  as  ryiost  men  ignoranily  do,  but  a  real  spiritual 
substance,  which  the  soul  of  man  is  capable  to  feel  and 


318 


APPENDIX. 


apprehend,  from  which  that  real,  spiritual,  inward  birth 
in  believers  arises,  called  the  new  a-eaturc,  the  new  man 
in  the  heart.  This  seems  strange  to  carnal-minded  men, 
because  they  are  not  acquainted  with  it:  but  we  know 
it,  and  are  sensible  of  it,  by  a  true  and  certain  expe- 
rience. 

(pp.  142,  143,  144.)  "We  have  said  before,  how  that 
a  divine,  spiritual,  and  supprnatural  light  is  in  all  men ; 
how  that  that  divine,  supernatural  light  or  seed,  is  vehicu- 
lum  Dei ;  how  that  God  and  Christ  dwelitth  in  it,  and 
is  nevfr  separated  from  it;  also  how  that  as  it  is  received 
and  closed  within  the  heart,  Christ  comes  to  be  formed 
and  brought  forth  ;  but  we  are  far  from  ever  having 
said,  that  Christ  is  thus  formed  in  all  men,  or  in  the 
wicked  ;  for  that  is  a  great  attainment,  which  the  apos- 
tle travailed  that  it  might  be  brought  forth  in  the  Gala- 
tians. 

"  But  in  regard  Christ  is  in  all  men  as  in  a  seed,  yea, 
and  that  he  never  is  nor  can  be  separate  from  that  holyy 
pure  seed  and  light  which  is  in  all  mf^n ;  therefore  may 
it  be  said,  in  a  larger  sense,  that  he  is  in  all,  &c. 

"  And  forasmuch  as  Christ  is  called  that  light  that 
enlightens  every  man,  the  light  of  the  world,  therefore  the 
light  is  taken  for  Christ,  who  truly  is  the  fountain  of 
light,  and  hath  his  habitation  in  it  forever. 

"  Thus  the  light  of  Christ  is  sometimes  called 
Christ,  i.  e.  that  in  which  Christ  is,  and  from  which  he 
is  never  separated." 

THE  SEED. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Brief  Remarks,  p.  10.) :  That  this 
parable  (of  the  mustard  seed)  was  intended  to  set  forth 
the  small  beginnings  of  Christianity  in  the  woild,  and 
its  subsequent  extension  and  victory,  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  by  any  sober  commentator ;  and  we  may 
freely  allow  that  it  also  bears  an  allusion  to  the  growth 
in  grace  of  the  individual  believer  in  Jesus  ; — but  that 
the  mustard  seed  is  here  equivalent  to  Christ  himself 
in  his  inward  appearance  to  the  soul,  is  surely  a  notion, 
without  the  smallest  foundation  either  in  reason  or 
Scripture.    The  seed  which  the  sower  went  forth  to 


APPENDIX. 


319 


sow,  in  another  parable,  as  explained  by  our  Lord  as 
signifying  the  word  of  divine  truth  as  it  is  preached  and 
heard.  It  cannot  therefore  signify  Christ,  who  in  his 
character  of  a  prophet,  or  preacher,  is  represented  as 
the  sower  ;  and  equally  obvious  is  it,  that  it  cannot  be 
identical  (as  some  persons  appear  to  imagine)  with  the 
light  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  all  men. 

"  The  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  through  which 
the  heliever  is  born  again,  may  probably  be  represented 
by  the  term  *  seed.'  In  I  Peter  i.  2,  3,  *  Being  born 
again,  not  of  corruptible  seed,  but  of  incoiTuptible,  by 
the  word  of  God  which  liveth  and  abideth  forever 
and  this  graoe  abiding  in  the  Jieart  of  the  believer,  ap- 
pears to  be  spoken  of  under  the  same  term  in  1  John 
iii.  9  :  '  Whomsoever  is  born  of  God  doth  not  commit 
sin,  for  his  seed  remaineth  in  him,  and  he  cannot  sin, 
because  he  is  born  of  God.'  " 

Contrast  with 

George  Fox  (Sewell's  History,  Vol.  II.  p.  490.  Phil- 
adelphia edit.)  :  "  All  is  well,  the  seed  of  God  reigns 
over  all,  and  over  death  itself."  "  And  though,"  con- 
tinued he,  "  I  am  weak  in  body,  yet  the  power  of  God 
is  over  all,  and  the  Lord  reigns  over  all  disorderly 
spirits."  "  He  used  often,  even  in  his  preaching,  when 
he  spoke  of  Christ,  to  call  Him  the  Seed;  therefore, 
those  that  were  with  him  very  well  knew  what  he 
meant  when  he  spoke  of  the  'Seed.' 

"Again,  about  four  or  five  hours  before  his  death, 
being  asked  how  he  did,  he  answered,  'Do  not  heed, 
the  power  of  the  Lord  is  above  all  sickness  and  death  ; 
the  Seed  reigns,  blessed  be  the  Lord  !'  " 

OF  THE   BODY  AND   BLOOD   OF  CHRIST. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Brief  Remarks,  p.  13.)  :  After  com- 
menting at  large  on  John  vi.  he  says — "Hence  it  fol- 
lows, that  the  bread  which  Christ  gives  us  to  eat  is  his 
flesh,  which  he  offered  upon  the  cross  for  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world.  As  eating  the  bread  of  life  is  identical 
with  believing  in  Christ,  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  so 


320 


APPENDIX. 


eating  his  flesh  is  identical  with  such  a  belief  in  him  as 
is  especially  directed  to  his  atoning  sacrifice. 

*'  Our  Lord's  meaning  becomes  yet  more  indisputa- 
ble, when  he  pursues  his  use  of  this  expressive  figure, 
and  adds  to  the  eating  of  his  flebh,  the  drinking  of  his 
blood  :  *  Verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Except  ye  eat  the  flesh 
of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  drink  his  blood,  ye  have  no  life 
in  you.  He  that  eateth  my  flesh,  and  drinketh  my 
blood,  dwelleth  in  me,  and  I  in  him,'  ver.  53 — 56. 
That  the  flesh  and  blood  of  Christ  are  here  spoken  of 
in  relation  to  his  incarnation  and  atoning  sacrifice,  is 
made  abundantly  clear  by  the  comparison  of  all  the 
other  passages  in  the  New  Testament,  and  especially 
in  the  writings  of  this  apostle,  in  which  mention  is  made 
of  that  flesh  or  of  that  blood. 

These  passages  are  numerous  ;  and.  on  a  careful  ex- 
amination of  them,  it  will  be  found  that  the  fiesh 
always  means  his  human  body — that  body  which  was 
born,  died,  and  rose  again — and  that  his  blood  always 
means  his  very  blood,  which  was  his  natural  life,  and 
which  was  naturally  shed  on  the  cross  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sin." 

Contrast  with 

Barclay  (Apology,  p.  446.)  :  The  hody  then  of 
Christ,  which  believers  partake  of,  is  spiritual,  and  not 
carnal ;  and  his  blood,  which  they  drink  of,  is  pure  and 
heavenly,  and  not  Jiuman  or  elementary,  as  Augustine  also 
affirms  of  the  body  of  Christ,  which  is  eaten,  in  his 
Tractat.  Psalm  98.  Except  a  man  eat  my  flesh,  he  hath 
not  in  him  life  eternal :  and  he  saith,  The  words  which  I 
speak  unto  you  are  Spirit  and  life ;  understand  spiritually 
what  I  have  spoken. 

Ye  shall  not  eat  of  this  body  which  ye  see,  and  drink 
this  blood  which  they  shall  spill,  which  crucify  me — I 
am  the  living  bread,  who  have  descended  from  heaven. 
He  calls  himself  the  bread,  who  descended  from  hea- 
ven, exhorting  that  we  might  believe  in  him,  &c. 

If  it  be  asked  then,  What  that  body,  what  that  flesh 
and  blood  is  ] 

I  answer;  It  is  that  heavenly  seed ,  that  divine,  spirit- 


APPENDIX.. 


321 


iial,  celestial  substance,  of  which  we  spake  before  in 
the  ffth  and  sixth  propositions.  This  is  that  spiritual 
body  of  Christ,  whereby  and  through  which  he  commu- 
nicateth  life  to  men,  and  salvation  to  as  many  as  believe 
in  him,  and  receive  him  ;  and  whereby  also  man  comes 
to  have  fellowship  and  communion  with  God." 

GURXEY-ISMSj  ETC. 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Portable  Evidences,  pp.  109,  110.)  : 
Furnished  as  we  are  by  the  Author  of  our  being  with 
a  moral  principle,  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  conceive  that 
God  will  reward  and  punish  mankind  in  a  future  world, 
by  any  other  than  the  moral  rule.  We  should  be  utter- 
ly at  a  loss  to  account  for  the  contrary,  which  would  be 
directly  opposed  to  that  sense  of  right  and  icrong, 
which  He  has  so  graciously  interwoven  with  our  very 
nature!^ 

(Ibid.  p.  123.)  "  All  men  have  sinned  against  the  law 
of  God,  as  it  is  written  on  their  hearts  ;  and  those  on 
whom  the  Scriptures  are  bestowed,  have  sinned  against 
the  same  law  as  it  is  more  largely  unfolded  in  the 
sacred  volume." 

(Ibid.  pp.  121, 122.)  :  "  Now  where  but  in  the  Sacred 
writings,  shall  we  look  for  a  full  account  of  the  holi- 
ness and  comprehensiveness  of  the  law  of  God  ? 
Where,  but  in  them,  shall  we  learn  the  lesson  of  its 
variety  and  completeness  ;  of  its  spiritual  and  search- 
ing nature  ;  of  its  divine  control,  not  only  over  our 
words  and  actions,  but  over  our  thoughts,  motives,  and 
dispositions 

(Note  at  bottom  of  page  20,  of  Strictures  on  "  Truth 
Vindicated.")  "  Had  R.  Barclay  lived  to  witness  the 
result  of  the  labors  of  many  eminent  biblical  critics, 
during  the  last  150  years,  he  would  have  entertained  a 
higher  view  than  he  appears  to  have  done,  of  the  sub- 
stantial correctness  of  the  text  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments." 

(Portable  Evidence,  p.  109.)  "  Now  I  conceive  that 
in  the  agreement  between  the  law  written  on  the  heart, 
and  the  law  written  in  the  book,  and  in  the  extension  of 
the  latter  beyond  the  natural  limits  of  the  former,  we 


322 


APPENDIX, 


have  two  cogent  and  distinct  evidences,  tnat  the  Scrip- 
tures are  the  book  of  God." 

(Misinterpretations  of  Scripture  as  published  in  the 
Inquirer,  Vol.  I.  No.  7,  p.  195.)  The  idea  was  at  one 
time  rather  prevalent  among  the  members  of  our  So- 
ciety, that  when  the  Apostle  used  the  term,  *  a  more 
sure  word  of  prophecy,'  he  was  alluding  not  to  any 
word  written,  but  to  that  Divine  illuminating  influence 
by  which  the  prophets  were  inspired,  and  which  guides 
the  Christian  believer  *  into  all  truth.'  Such  a  view  of 
the  passage  is,  indeed,  hut  seldom  insisted  upon  at  the 
present  day  ;  but  as  it  is  sometimes  advanced,  I  think 
it  right  to  acknowledge  my  own  sentiment,  that  it  is  at 
variance  with  the  simplicity  which  we  ought  always  to 
maintain  in  the  perusal  and  interpretation  of  the  Sacred 
writings.  That  the  '  very  sure  word  of  prophecy'  was 
that  which  had  been  uttered  and  written,  is  evident 
from  the  immediate  context,  in  which  the  Apostle  dis- 
tinguishes the  word  from  the  day  star  in  the  heart,  and 
at  the  same  time  identifies  it  (as  I  conceive)  with  pro- 
phecy of  the  Scripture." 

(Ibid.  p.  198.)  '*  The  misinterpretation  which  I  wish 
to  notice  is,  that  of  several  writers  who  appear  to  sup- 
pose that  because  Christ  is  called  the  light,  (i  e.  the 
enlightener,)  he  is  therefore  to  be  identified  with  the 
influence  which  he  bestows  ;  in  short,  that  the  light  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  heart  of  man  is  itself  actually 
Christ.  The  obvious  tendency  of  this  mistake  is,  to 
deprive  the  Saviour  of  his  personal  attributes,  and  to 
reduce  Him  to  the  rank  of  a  principle." 

(Ibid.  p.  194.)  "  It  is  unquestionably  our  duty  to  ex- 
ercise diligence  and  care,  in  order  to  obtain  a  right 
understanding  of  the  sacred  volume ;  for  this,  like 
every  other  book,  must  he  interpreted  in  accordance  with 
the  known  principles  of  language,  and  not  without  refer- 
ence to  innumerahle  facts  and  circumstances  which  throw 
light  on  its  meaning ^ 

Contrast  these  sentiments  with 

Penington  (Works,  Part  I.  p.  8.)  :  "But  poor  man 
having  lost  the  life,  what  should  he  do  ?  he  can  do  no 


APPENDIX. 


323 


other,  but  cry  up  the  letter,  and  make  as  good  shift 
with  it  as  he  can,  though  his  soul  the  meanwhile  is 
starved,  and  lies  in  famine  and  death  for  want  of  the 
bread  of  life,  and  a  wrong  thing  is  fed." 

Geo.  Fox  (Journal,  Vol.  1.  p.  32.)  :  "  He  [the  Priest] 
took  for  his  text  these  words  of  Peter,  '  We  have  also 
a  more  sure  word  of  prophecy,  whereunto  ye  do  well 
that  ye  take  heed,  as  unto  a  light  that  shineth  in  a  dark 
place,  until  the  day  dawn,  and  the  day  star  arise  in  your 
hearts.'  He  told  the  people  this  was  the  Scriptures,  by 
which  they  were  to  try  all  doctrines,  religions,  and 
opinions.  Now  the  Lord's  power  was  so  mighty  upon 
me,  and  so  strong  in  me,  that  I  could  not  hold  ;  but 
was  made  to  cry  out,  *  Oh  !  no  ;  it  is  not  the  Scriptures;' 
and  told  them  it  was  the  Holy  Spuit,  by  which  the  holy 
men  of  God  gave  forth  the  Scriptures,  whereby  opin- 
ions, religions,  and  judgments  were  to  be  tried  ;  for  it 
led  into  all  truth,  and  so  gave  the  knowledge  of  all 
truth.  The  Jews  had  the  Scriptures,  yet  resisted  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  rejected  Christ,  the  bright  morning 
star.  They  persecuted  him  and  his  Apostles,  and  took 
upon  them  to  try  their  doctrines  by  the  Scriptures,  but 
erred  in  judgment,  and  did  not  try  them  right ;  because 
they  tried  without  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Barclay  (Apology,  p.  147.)  :  "  So  we  confess  also, 
that  conscience  is  an  excellent  thing,  where  it  is  rightly 
informed  and  enlightened  :  wherefore  some  of  us  have 
fitly  compared  it  to  the  lantern,  and  the  light  of  Christ 
to  a  candle  ;  a  lantern  is  useful,  when  a  clear  candle 
burns  and  shines  in  it ;  but  otherwise  is  of  no  use.  To 
the  light  of  Christ  then  in  the  conscience,  and  not  to 
man's  natural  conscience,  it  is  that  we  continually  com- 
mend men  ;  that,  not  this  is  it  that  we  preach  up,  and 
direct  people  to,  as  a  m.ost  ceitain  guide  into  life  eter- 
nal. Lastly,  this  light,  seed,  &c.,  appears  to  be  no 
power  or  natural  faculty  of  man's  mind  ;  because  a  man 
that  is  in  his  health  can,  when  he  pleases,  stir  up,  move, 
and  exercise  the  faculties  of  his  soul ;  he  is  absolute 
master  of  them ;  and  except  there  be  some  natural 
cause  or  impediment  in  the  way,  he  can  use  them  a£ 


324 


APPENDIX. 


his  pleasure  ;  but  this  light  and  seed  of  God  in  man,  he 
cannot  move  and  stir  up  when  he  pleaseth  ;  but  it 
moves,  blows,  and  strives  with  man,  as  the  Lord  seeth 
meet." 

Geo.  Fox  (Journal,  Vol.  I.  p.  111.) :  "I  was  sent  to 
turn  people  from  darkness  to  the  light,  that  they  might 
receive  Christ  Jesus  ;  for  to  as  many  as  should  receive 
him  in  his  light,  I  saw  he  would  give  power  to  become 
the  sons  of  God ;  which  I  had  obtained  by  receiving 
Christ.  I  was  to  direct  people  to  the  Spirit,  that  gave 
forth  the  Scriptures,  by  which  they  might  be  led  up  to 
all  truth,  and  up  to  Christ  and  God,  as  those  had  been 
who  gave  them  forth.  I  was  to  turn  them  to  the  grace 
of  God,  and  to  the  truth  in  the  heart,  which  came  by 
Jesus  ;  that  by  this  grace  they  might  be  taught,  which 
would  bring  them  salvation,  that  their  hearts  might  be 
established  by  it,  their  words  might  be  seasoned,  and  all 
might  come  to  know  their  salvation  nigh.  I  saw  that 
Christ  died  for  all  men,  was  a  propitiation  for  all,  and 
enlightened  all  men  and  women  with  his  divine  and 
saving  liglit ;  and  that  none  could  be  true  believers,  but 
those  that  believed  therein.  I  saw  that  the  grace  of 
God,  which  brings  salvation,  had  appeared  to  all  men, 
and  that  the  manifestation  of  the  Spirit  of  God  was 
given  to  every  man,  to  profit  withal.  These  things  I 
did  not  see  by  the  help  of  man,  nor  by  the  letter  ;  though 
they  are  written  in  the  letter  ;  but  I  saw  them  in  the 
light  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  his  immediate 
spirit  and  power,  as  did  the  holy  men  of  God  by  whom 
the  Holy  Scriptures  icere  written ^ 

(Ibid.  p.  212.)  "  Another  time,  this  priest  came  to  a 
meeting,  and  fell  to  jangling.  First,  he  said,  '  The 
Scriptures  were  the  word  of  God.'  I  told  him,  they 
were  the  words  of  God,  but  not  Christ,  the  word  ;  and 
bid  him  prove  by  Scripture  what  he  said." 

J.  J.  Gurney  (Brief  Remarks,  p.  15.)  :  '*  And  as  it  is 
appointed  unto  men  once  to  die ;  but  after  this  the 
judgment :  so  Christ  was  once  offered  to  bear  the  sins 
of  many  ;  and  unto  them  who  look  for  him  shall  he 
appear  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation. 


APPENDIX. 


325 


Heb.  ix  :  27,  28.  It  is  generally  allowed  and  I  think  it 
is  very  obvious  that  the  second  appearing  of  Christ, 
here  mentioned  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  his  future 
coming  in  glory,  to  judge  the  quick  and  dead." 

Discipline  of  New  England^  (Yearly  Meeting,  p.  74.) : 
And  to  his  spiritual  appearance  in  the  heart,  for  'unto 

them  that  look  for  Him  shall  He  appear  the  second 

time,  without  sin,  unto  salvation." 

J.  J.  Gurney.  "  Were  I  required  to  define  Quaker- 
ism, I  would  not  describe  it  as  the  system  so  elaborately 
wrought  out  by  a  Barclay,  or  as  the  doctrine  and  max- 
ims of  a  Penn.  or  as  the  deep  and  refined  views  of  a 
Penington ;  for  all  these  authors  have  their  defects  as 
well  as  their  excellencies  ;  I  should  call  it  the  religion 
of  the  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Clirist,  without  dimunition,  without  addition,  and  with- 
out compromise." 

See  concluding  paragraph  of  his  misinterpretation 
of  Scripture. 

J.  Penington  says,  Now  mark,  see  if  this  be  not  a 
clear  thing,  He  that  giveth  any  other  meaning  of  any 
Scripture,  than  what  is  the  true,  proper  meaning  there- 
of, lie  both  addeth  and  diminisheth  ;  he  takes  away  the 
true  sense,  he  addeth  a  sense  that  is  not  true.  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  the  true  expositor  of  Scripture, 
he  never  addeth  nor  diminisheth  :  but  man  (being 
without  the  Spirit)  doth  but  guess,  doth  but  imagine, 
doth  but  study  or  invent  a  meaning,  and  so  he  is  ever 
adding  or  diminishing." 


Note. — The  Publisher  of  this  Narrative,  is  indebted 
to  a  much  esteemed  Friend  for  most  of  the  foregoing 
extracts. 


LETTERS,  &e. 


In  the  following  letters  a  very  few  verbal  altera- 
tions and  transpositions  have  been  made,  not  only 
for  a  grammatical  improvement,  but  to  make  a  few 
sentences  more  explicit  to  the  understanding  of  the 
reader.  Yet  these  are  substantially  literal  copies  of 
the  original  letters,  and  on  a  comparison  will  be 
found,  entirely,  to  coincide  with  the  sense  of  the 
original ; 

LETTER  1. 

To  . 

My  Dear  Friends  : — Notwithstanding  the  lively 
continuation  of  that  interest  which  I  have  truly  for 
a  long  time  felt  for  you  and  your  prosperity  in 
things  of  an  eternal  moment ;  and  although  I  have 
been  aware  of  some  discrepancy  of  views  for  most 
of  the  year  past  between  you  and  myself,  and  a 
great  grief  has  it  been  to  me,  because  considerations 
of  great  importance  are  involved  therein  :  yet  I  have 
never  until  very  recently,  felt  even  a  liberty  to  ad- 
dress you  on  the  subject.  But  now  the  way  for 
such  service  seems  to  open  pretty  clearly  ;  so  much 
so  that  you  have  of  late  been  almost  continually 
present  to  the  view  of  my  mind,  with  interesting 
and  living  desires  for  your  as  for  my  own  preserva- 


328 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


tion  in  the  truth.  And  however  httle  is  the  quaUfi- 
cation  of  which  I  am  possessed  for  such  an  attempt, 
yet  as  I  am  now  convinced  that  a  conformity  to 
this  attraction  to  duty,  if  attended  to  in  simpHcity 
and  meekness,  will  bring  peace,  I  no  longer  with- 
hold. 

I  need  not  tell  you  how  clearly  the  Apostle  Paul 
made  a  unity  of  faith  and  doctrine  the  test  of  fellow- 
ship, nor  of  how  beautifully  he  describes  the  agree- 
ment and  fitness  of  the  members  of  the  body  one 
with  another  so  that  it  might  be  one  perfect  hai'- 
monious  whole.  Nor  how  the  Gospel,  or  standard 
of  Truth's  doctrines  are  to  be  the  believer's  only 
rallying  point,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  doctrines, 
although  such  other  may  be  promulgated  by  the 
greatest  of  men,  or  even  by  an  angel  from  heaven ; 
as  in  Galatians  1 — 8,  "But  though  we,  or  an  angel 
from  heaven,  preach  any  other  Gospel  unto  you  than 
that  which  we  have  [already]  preached  unto  you, 
let  him  be  accursed." 

And  so  decided  and  earnest  in  this  avowal,  was 
the  Apostle,  that  he  confirms  it  by  a  reiteration  of 
the  same  in  the  very  next  verse  ;  and  then  adds, 
"  for  do  I  now  persuade  men,  or  God  ?  or  do  I  seek 
to  please  men  ?  for  if  I  yet  pleased  men,  I  should  not 
be  the  servant  of  Christ." 

Can  any  work  or  device  of  men,  however  imita- 
tive or  skilllul  in  the  display  of  goodness  and  wis- 
dom, ever  make  amends  for  a  defection  in  faith  and 
doctrine,  orreconcile  unto  Christ?  See  Mat.  7 — 22. 
"  Many  will  say  to  me  in  that  day.  Lord  !  Lord  ! 
have  we  not  prophecied  in  thy  name  ?  and  in  thy 
name  have  cast  out  devils ;  and  in  thy  name  done 
many  wonderful  works  ?"  Nor  does  he  go  about 
to  deny  their  having  done  those  works :  no,  but  he 
says,  "  then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew 
you  !" 

The  one  thing  needful  was  wanting,  the  know- 
ledge of  Christ ;  a  knowledge  which  gathers  and 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


329 


unites  his  whole  household  mto  one,  m  heart  and 
mind,  doing  and  believing  as  one  man  doeth  and  be- 
lieveth. 

But  to  come  more  directly  to  the  subject  of  this 
letter,  I  will  confess  unto  you,  that  I  still  feel  much 
uneasiness  in  relation  to  many  of  the  doctrinal 
views  of  J.  J.  Gurney,  the  Friend  who  is  here  from 
England  in  the  capacity  of  a  minister  ;  and  of 
which  uneasiness  I  informed  him  at  the  time  of  our 
last  Yearly  i\'Ieeting.  And  so  far  from  attempting 
an  explanation,  for  mine  and  others'  satisfaction,  he 
entered  promptly  into  a  summary  defence  and  jus- 
tification of  the  same  ;  and  attempted  sheltering 
himself  under  his  certificate  from  London,  and  plead 
that  w^e  have  no  right  to  call  in  question  any  thing 
which  he  had  written  previous  to  that  time,  a  point 
in  which  we  found  ourselves  [at  issue  ;  unless,  in- 
deed, he  had  condemned  his  defective  writings 
which  are  among  us,  here  as  well  as  there,  before 
the  certificate  was  granted  ;  for  his  wrongs  to  the 
Society  were  here  as  well  as  there,  and  cannot  be 
amended  without  a  condemnation  made  as  public  as 
the  writings  themselves. 

I  could  not  dispute  his  idea,  that  Friends  in  Lon- 
don had  sanctioned  his  doctrines  by  granting  him  a 
certificate  of  unity.  But  that  other  Yearly  Meet- 
ings which  are  not  subordinate  but  independent 
bodies,  should  be  bound  by  such  an  inadvertent 
cover  of  defective  doctrines  by  them,  is  an  assump- 
tion altogether  in  my  apprehension  absurd. 

The  great  question  with  us  is,  whether  he  has 
ever  condemned  and  made  satisfaction  to  Friends 
for  those  doctrines,  agreeable  to  the  usages  of  our 
Christian  Discipline,  or  whether  they  yet  remain  to 
be  his  own.  This  question  was  fully  decided  by 
himself  during  the  interview  which  I  had  with  him. 
He  said  that  his  '*  writings  contained  no  doctrines 
but  such  as  were  sound  and  conformable  to  Quaker- 
ism !"  Hence  we  are  bound  by  his  own  veracity  to 
believe  that  every  thing  to  be  found  in  his  books  is 


330 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


yet  a  true  transcript  of  hivS  own  sentiments.  But 
have  we  a  right  thus  plainly  to  handle  the  character 
and  doctrines  of  a  travelling  minister  well  recom- 
mended— a  man  so  pleasing  and  interesting  as  well 
as  religious  ?  No  !  unless  he  has  put  himself  in 
competition  with  the  Society  ; — with  our  principles 
and  testimonies. 

If  he  have  volunteered,  and  made  public  his  name 
and  sentiments,  they  are  ours,  [public  property,] 
and  there  is  no  delicacy  or  impropriety  in  thus  in- 
forming one  another,  and  of  developing  to  one  ano- 
ther, the  character  of  them,  and  the  danger  which 
thereby  awaits  the  Society  and  its  distinguishing 
doctrines. 

If  such  right  were  taken  from  us,  then  the  safety, 
if  not  the  existence  of  this  Society  must  soon  be  at 
an  end  ! 

No  individual  has  a  right  to  claim  the  sparing  of 
his  character,  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  Society 
and  its  doctrines,  or  to  the  dishonor  or  displeasure 
of  Him  who  dispensed  these  doctrines  to  this  peo- 
ple. For  indeed,  my  dear  friends,  I  account  it  no 
small  thing  lor  an  individual  to  arraign  the  whole 
company  of  our  early  and  deeply  experienced 
Friends  in  matters  of  faith  and  doctrine,  and  thus  to 
reprobate  their  principles.  But  you  will  probably 
be  surprised  at  such  allusions  as  these,  unless  you 
have  read  his  works  ; — if  you  have,  attentively,  I 
know  your  knowledge  of  our  principles,  and  that 
your  intelligence  is  such,  that  you  will  perceive 
there  is  no  breach  of  charity  in  these  remarks,  be- 
ing equally  concerned  with  myself,  as  I  trust  you 
are,  that  the  pure  Christian  doctrines  of  our  early 
Friends  may  be  kept  and  remain  inviolate  and  with- 
out abatement. 

We  know  that  every  one  of  those  noted  individu- 
als who  have  in  our  time  attempted  an  innovation 
upon  our  principles,  claimed  for  themselves,  and 
their  friends  claimed  for  them,  the  apphcation  and 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


331 


protection  of  our  excellent  discipline,  relative  to  love 
and  unity,  and  detraction  ;  and  no  great  honor  to 
them  either,  to  lay  their  unhallowed  hands  upon 
those  Christian  provisions,  and  to  apply  them  to  an 
unhallowed  purpose,  to  lay  a  suspicion  of  their  de- 
signs and  to  obviate  detection.  Some  of  them  also 
when  abroad  with  certificates,  and  friends  expressed 
dissatisfaction  with  their  doctrines,  claimed  the  pro- 
tection of  their  credentials,  and  appealed  to  the  au- 
thority of  their  friends  at  home  ! 
[  But  whether  you  have  been  conversant  with  the 
writings  alluded  to  or  not,  I  will  extract  a  few  out 
of  the  many  exceptionable  passages,  and  present 
for  your  view  and  consideration;  and  if  there 
should  be  any  doubts  in  your  minds  relative  to  any 
one  of  them,  you  will  please  compare  them  with 
Fox,  Barclay  and  Penn  :  for  however  he  may  deny 
the  testimonies  of  these,  I  am  assured  that  you  will 
not.  [Here  followed  the  extracts.  The  reader  is 
referred  to  those  contained  in  the  following  letter, 
which  are  substantially  the  same. 

The  copy  of  the  preceding  letter  in  my  hands  is 
without  date,  but  is  believed  to  have  been  written 
in  the  4th  month  of  1839,  and  signed  by 

JOHN  WILBUR. 


LETTER  II. 

HoPKiNTON,  lOthof  11th  mo.,  1838. 

Ml/  Dear  Friend,  : 

Within  these  few  days  a  little  inclination  has 
sprung  up  in  my  mind,  to  suggest  a  few  considera- 
tions to  thee,  relative  to  the  important  question 
which  transpired  during  our  Yearly  Meeting ;  and 


332 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


as  much  time  has  elapsed  for  dehberation  thereon,  I 
feel  that  I  can  address  thee  with  the  more  freedom. 
And  if  I  understand  the  question  it  was  this  : — 
"  Whether  a  Certificate  granted  to  a  travelling 
minister,  from  a  body  of  F?nends  to  which  we  are  not 
subordinate,  is  an  entire  foreclosure  of  a  recogni- 
zance of  doctrines  fundamentally  incorrect,  and 
known  to  exist  in  the  sentiments  of  the  hearer  of  such 
credentials  ?  Or,  in  other  words,  whether  it  he  requi- 
site, that  whatever  one  Yearly  Meeting  adopts,  all 
others  are  hound  to  receive  and  approve  ?  A  rule 
or  principle,  my  dear  friend,  if  this  question  is  de- 
termined in  the  affirmative,  which  will  amount  to 
the  assumption,  that  if  one  of  those  independent 
bodies  should  unhappily  become  apostate  in  princi- 
ple, (a  calamity  which  has  been  known  to  befal  the 
best  of  bodies,)  then  are  all  of  those  bodies  una- 
voidably rendered  obnoxious  to  the  same  apostacy.* 
Hence,  if  an  alliance,  or  correspondence,  one  with 
another  unavoidably  subjects  Yearly  Meetings  to 
such  consequences,  were  it  not  better  that  such  alli- 
ance should  not  exist  ?  But  inasmuch  as  I  esteem 
the  proposition  incorrect,  I  would  not  suspend  an 
intercourse  between  Yearly  Meetings;  but  that 
each  should  know  its  own  standing  and  abide  on 
the  sure  foundation,  by  a  constant  recurrence  to 
the  pattern  of  first  principles,  independent  of  each 
other's  fidelity  or  misgivings  ; — and  then  a  mutual 
intercourse  under  the  Divine  superintendency,  will 
tend  to  the  strengthening  and  edifying  of  one  ano- 
ther not  to  the  perversion,  but  to  the  confirmation  of 
sound  principles  as  they  are  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Ho- 


*  If  such  certificate  protects  the  bearer,  forecloses  all  enquiry, 
and  adopts  bis  doctrine  at  home,  (as  by  himself  claimed,)  then  his 
returning  certificates,  il'  such  be  granted  from  all  the  Yearly  Meet- 
ings, by  the  same  rule  must  protect  him  from  all  impeachment,  and 
establish  his  doctrines  throughout  the  whole  Society ! 


LETTERS,  ETC 


333 


ly  Head.  And  there  is  another  case  besides  that 
of  apostacy  from  original  Quakerism,  possible  to  oc- 
cur, which  might  serve  as  an  obstruction  to  the 
service  of  a  minister  from  abroad  with  a  good  cer- 
tificate, namely — should  he  be  found  chargeable 
with  mal-conduct  which  transpired  previous  to  his 
liberation,  but  unknown  to  the  body  which  liberated 
him,  and  afterwards  coming  to  the  knowledge  of 
Friends  where  he  goes.  These  supposed  cases  are 
adduced  upon  general  principles,  siaiply  to  show 
that  incidents  may  occur,  in  which  full  credence 
might  be  necessarily  withholden  from  a  minister 
producing  a  full  certificate.  Furthermore,  a  third 
case  may  occur  and  be  plainly  tangible,  independ- 
ent of  the  authority  which  liberated  a  minister, 
namely,  when  he  is  found  to  be  fundamentally  de- 
fective in  principle  at  any  time  during  his  visit 
abroad  ;  and  in  which  case  neither  the  credibility 
of  the  meeting  recommending,  or  its  certificate,  can 
be  rightfully  brought  forward  in  defence  of  the 
person  or  his  principles  ;  whether  known  or  un- 
known to  the  liberating  body,  belongs  not  to  the 
enquiry,  but  whether  he  actually  hold  such  princi- 
ples. 

Nevertheless,  such  person  ought  to  be  aware  that 
his  claiming  the  sanction  of  his  own  Yearly  Meet- 
ing, reflects  no  honor  upon  that  body.  The  truth 
itself  is  to  be  the  test  and  standard  of  such  decision  ; 
and  his  doctrine  must  be  compared  with  the  doc- 
triaes  of  Christianity  as  found  recorded  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  with  which  those  of  our  Society, 
from  the  first  are  believed  to  be  in  full  accordance  : 
and  w^hosoever  departs  from  that  belief  departs 
from  Quakerism,  how^ever  good  he  may  suppose  his 
claim  to  Christianity.  And  if  the  fact  of  his  defection 
is  clearly  known  and  understood,  whether  through 
the  medium  of  his  own  written  and  recorded  decla- 
rations, or  by  his  oral  testimonies  delivered  in  pub- 
lic or  private,  his  liabihty,  and  the  course  to  be 


334 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


taken  by  his  friends,  and  the  conclusions  to  be 
drawn  are  the  same — undeniahly  the  same. 

But  the  Society  of  Friends  in  this  country  has 
always  placed  a  stronger  guard  upon  the  Press, 
than  upon  the  Gallery  ;  because  recorded  and  pub- 
lished defections  are  generally  productive  of  the 
greater  evil,  for  the  reason  that  such  are  the  more 
tangible,  and  reduced  to  a  more  permanent  form 
than  those  put  forth  orally.  A  conclusion  evinced 
by  the  order  of  Society  in  prohibiting  an  author 
from  printing  his  doctrinal  views  without  an  official 
approval  first  obtained ; — a  restraint  not  laid  upon 
oral  testimony. 

And  now,  my  beloved  Friend,  I  will  come  more 
directly  to  the  very  important  case  in  question;  but 
before  proceeding  to  identify  and  enumerate  some 
of  the  impediments  which  are  deemed  to  lie  in  the 
way  of  the  conspicuous  stranger  now  in  our  land,  I 
will  speak  a  word  or  two  of  the  rights  of  every 
member  of  the  compact,  if  not  his  duty  to  guard 
against  all  unrighteousness — to  ask  for  an  explana- 
tion of  any  avowals  or  doctrines  which  he  does  not 
comprehend,  or  understand  to  be  in  accordance 
with  Christianity,  (by  whomsoever,  or  in  what 
manner  soever  advanced)  and  to  expect  reasonable 
satisfaction  to  be  made  ;  and  on  a  refusal  thereof,  to 
bear  his  testimony  honestly  against  it,  for  the  clear- 
ing of  his  own  mind,  and  that  he  may  not  be  a  par- 
taker with  such,  of  their  deeds. 

And  if  I  mistake  not,  it  will  be  made  plainly  to 
appear  that  the  person  alluded  to,  has  volunteered 
in  the  profession  of  doctrines,  obviously  at  variance 
with  the  acknowledged  and  established  tenets  of  the 
Society ;  and  thereby  placed  himself  at  issue  with 
every  sound  member  of  the  body  in  matters  of  faith 
and  practice  ;  and  until  he  retract  the  same,  has 
never  a  right  to  complain  of  a  prompt  defence  of 
our  principles,  though  it  could  only  be  done  at  the 
expense  of  his  religious  character ;  and  better  so 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


335 


than  omitted  at  the  expense  of  the  whole  body,  and 
of  the  testimonies  of  truth,  agreeably  to  the  Scrip- 
ture, that  it  is  better  for  one  member  to  suffer,  than 
that  the  whole  body  should  suffer. 

If  it  were  so  that  a  member  of  our  Society,  un- 
der any  circumstances  whatever  in  which  he  might 
be  placed,  being  unsound,  cannot  be  approached, 
or  impeached,  or  asked  to  explain,  and  to  make 
satisfaction  for  things  which  give  uneasiness,  then 
the  Society  must  be  in  great  jeopardy  !  If  any  man 
among  us  has  an  exclusive  privilege  of  writing  and 
preaching  such  doctrines  as  he  listeth,  and  the  least 
of  the  flock  not  allowed  to  be  satisfied,  then  it  would 
seem,  that  the  safety  of  the  Society,  if  not  of  its  ex- 
istence, as  a  Quaker  fraternity,  is  in  a  perilous  con- 
dition. Are  we  not  informed  by  the  published 
account,  that  one  of  the  notable  witnesses  on  the 
trial  with  the  Hicksites  in  New  Jersey,  was  asked 
the  question,  whether  any  Friend  was  considered  to 
have  a  right  to  call  on  a  minister  travelling  with  a 
certificate,  for  an  explanation  of  his  avowals,  or  to 
call  them  in  question  1  To  which  1  think  the  answer 
was,  that  any  member,  or  even  a  child,  was  always 
considered  to  have  such  a  right.  But  Judge  Ewing 
suggested  the  idea  that  the  writings  of  Elias  Hicks 
were  better  evidence  against  him  than  oral  decla- 
ration. 

I  will  now  adduce  a  few  articles  from  his  .(Joseph 
John  Gurney's)  own  doctrines  and  confessions  of 
faith ;  and  if  called  for,  the  works,  and  pages,  and 
discourses  will  be  produced  and  pointed  out.  They 
are  as  foUoweth  : 

1st.  That  there  is  no  correct  divinity  but  that 
which  is  borrowed  from  the  Bible. 

2d.  That  the  spirit  is  a  person. 

3d.  That  he  believes  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
body. 

4th.  That  it  is  only  by  the  Scriptures  that  we 
obtain  a  proper  conception  of  the  nature  of  sin. 


336 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


5th.  Justification  by  faith,  and  that  faith  inde- 
pendent of  the  Spirit,  which  regenerates  the  heart : 
and  of  obedience. 

6th.  He  believes  in  delivering  public  discourses 
[or  lectures]  on  Christianity,  distinct  from  preaching. 

7th.  He  believes  in  a  form  for  prayer. 

And  in  his  last  book  called  "  Brief  Remarks  on 
an  impartial  interpretation  of  Scripture  ;"  he  inter- 
prets the  follov^ing  highly  important  passages  of 
Scripture  in  a  manner  contradictory  and  perversive 
of  Robert  Barclay's  interpretation  of  the  same  pas- 
sages, briefly  noticed  as  follows  : 

1st.  The  Bible,  the  'more  sure  word  of  pro- 
phecy.' 

2d.  He  believes  '  the  Gospel  of  Christ  [not]  to  be 
the  Power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one 
which  believeth,'  but  only  an  outward  declaration, 
or  record  of  that  which  is  the  Power  of  God. 

3d.  '  That  was  the  true  light  which  lighteth  every 
man  that  cometh  into  the  world.'  From  the  tenor 
of  his  comments  on  this  passage,  his  opinion  ap- 
pears to  be,  that  Christ  himself  is  not  the  Light 
which  lighteth  the  heart,  or  inner  man,  but  out- 
wardly the  *  enlightener.'  He  controverts  the  be- 
lief that  He  is  himself  the  true  Light  which  shines 
in  man,  and  aflirms  that  *  the  obvious  tendency  of 
such  an  opinion,  would  be  to  deprive  the  Saviour  of 
his  personal  attributes,  and  to  reduce  him  to  the 
rank  of  a  principle,'  a  consequence  often  attempted, 
substantially,  to  be  pressed  upon  our  first  Friends 
by  their  enemies,  and  as  often  refuted.  Such  ob- 
jections to  this  our  distinguished  and  evangelical 
doctrine,  seems  an  attempted  limitation,  and  attack 
upon  Christ's  character  without  knowledge  ;  and 
upon  this  blessed  and  essential  manifestation  and 
office  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  And  whilst  he 
professes  to  be  guarding  his  personal  attributes,  his 
reasoning  goes  to  deprive  him  of  an  attribute  divine, 
and  us  of  its  indispensable  benefit,  even  that  of  the 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


337 


immediate  revelation  of  light  and  knowledge,  where- 
by all  his  attributes,  together  with  his  Holy  Will, 
are  the  better  understood.  The  material  sun, 
(made  by  the  skill  of  attributes,)  by  pouring  forth 
his  animating  beam  upon  the  bosom  of  this  world 
ever  since  its  creation,  has  never  yet  deprived  itself 
of  its  own  image,  or  essential  properties,  or  that 
portion  of  hght  and  heat  so  essential  to  vegetation, 
sent  forth  from  him  the  fountain  of  it ;  nor  reduced 
itself  '  to  the  rank  of  a  principle.'  And  shall  we 
say  less  of  Him  who  made  it  such  ? 

4th.  He  thinks  that  the  seed,  the  parable  of  the 
mustard-seed,  and  the  seed  of  the  sower,  relate  only 
to  the  outward  increase  of  the  church,  or  of  Christ's 
outward  descent,  and  thus  disagrees  with  Barclay, 
namely — ^that  the  seed  alludes  to  a  measure  of  light, 
grace,  spirit  or  seed  of  the  kingdom,  word  of 
God,  &c. 

5th.  He  argues  that  the  Name  of  Father,  Son  and 
Spirit,  do  not  allude  to  the  Power. 

6th.  He  believes  that  the  partaking  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  is  not  a  'Communion  of  the  Holy  Ghost,' 
nor  yet  *  a  participation  of  the  Divine  nature 
through  faith,'  as  set  forth  by  Friends  in  England,* 
but  a  participation  of  his  material  Body  and  Blood 
by  faith. 

7th.  Is  an  attempt  to  divide  Christ  from  his  own 
Light,  revelation,  spirit  and  power,  namely,  that  it 
is  only  Christ  personally  on  which  the  Church  is 
built. 

8th.  Is  a  continued  hostility  to  the  spiritual  ap- 
pearing and  kingdom  of  Christ,  with  and  in  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  and  says  that  '  His  second  ap- 
pearance without  sin  unto  salvation,  to  them  who 
look  for  Him,^  as  declared  by  the  Apostle,  *  is  no- 


*  About  half  a  century  ago. 

15 


338 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


thing  more  nor  less  than  his  future  coming  in  glory 
to  judge  the  quick  and  dead.' 

These  eight  interpretations  and  their  introductory 
and  accompanying  remarks  constitute  the  whole 
tract,  the  object  and  purport  whereof,  cannot  be 
easily  misunderstood;  admired  and  applauded  by 
the  Beaconites,  and  to  all  who  receive  and  adopt 
these  sentiments,  they  will  have  a  direct  tendency 
to  lead  them  from  the  inner  to  the  outer  court  of  the 
Lord's  house — from  the  spirit,  life  and  power  of 
that  religion  which  is  immediately  revealed  by  Je- 
sus Christ,  in  the  soul  and  mind  of  man,  to  a  more 
outward  and  literal  religion,  consisting  of  head, 
knowledge  and  notions,  conceived  in  the  wisdom  of 
man,  and  understood  by  a  carnal  construction  of  the 
sacred  volume — which  is  here  exhibited  through  a 
brilUant  display  of  learning,  to  the  outdoing  of  all 
the  former  translators  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and 
attaining  to  the  great  skill  of  exalting  the  Hebrew, 
Greek  and  Latin,  over  the  head  of  Him  who  is  not 
only  Christ  crucified,  the  wisdom  of  God  and  power 
of  God,  but  is  the  light  of  the  world,  and  whose  life 
is  the  fight  of  men  ;  but  to  be  looked  for  inwardly  in 
the  heart,  and  not  (as  he  would  seem  [inclined]  to 
have  us  think)  outwardly  and  above  it,  by  the  un- 
derstanding only. 

The  review  of  the  above-named  tract  brings  to 
mind  some  remarks  of  a  late  American  writer, 
when  in  England,  in  relation  to  a  class  of  men  who 
as  he  says,  "  are  endeavoring  to  revive  many  of  the 
errors  of  Popery  into  the  English  Church,  or  to 
carry  it  back  again  to  the  state  of  things  before  the 
Reformation."  He  says,  "  I  hardly  need  tell  you 
that  these  views  sprung  up  at  Oxford,  [the  great 
seat  of  learning.] 

"  I  was  told,"  he  continues,  "  that  the  originators 
of  these  views  had  been  very  covertly  and  cautious- 
ly bringing  them  out  for  a  long  time,  and  no  one 
suspected  the  point  to  which  they  were  aiming,  till 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


330 


the  whole  thing  stood  revealed ;  and  thus  many- 
had  been  entrapped  unawares.  The  charms  of 
poetry  had  been  thrown  around  the  doctrine,  the  at- 
tractions of  learning,  the  plausibility  of  arguments, 
and  the  powers  of  gifted  genius  had  been  employed 
to  give  them  currency.  The  abettors  of  them  were 
men  of  distinguished  scholarship — of  great  urbanity 
and  blameless  lives.  Their  influence  at  Oxford  had 
been  astonishingly  great,"  &c. 

Now,  my  dear  friend,  if  such  be  a  true  picture 
of  the  means  put  in  operation  for  the  purpose  of  car- 
rying back  again  the  Episcopal  Society  to  the  faith 
of  Popery,  how  much  application  or  touching  of  the 
pencil  will  that  picture  require,  to  make  it  a  fair  de- 
lineation of  the  means  now  apparently  in  operation 
for  the  purpose  of  translating  Quakerism  back  again 
to  the  Episcopal  religion  ? 

Our  author,  in  his  introduction  to  the  tract  afore- 
said, strongly  implicates  the  Society  of  Friends  and 
its  writers,  with  mistakes  and  errors,  and  says,  "  I 
am  convinced  that  the  sooner  such  errors  are  recti- 
fied, the  better  for  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  our 
^  little  section  of  the  Christian  Church,  small  as  they 
[these  errors]  may  be  regarded  in  their  origin,  con- 
sisting perhaps  in  an  inaccurate  view  of  a  single 
word  or  sentence"  [of  Scripture.] 

"  These  mistakes,"  he  continues  "  are  often  found 
to  spread  their  influence  to  a  great  extent,  &:c." 
By  these  remarks  it  is  but  rational  to  suppose  that 
he  was  referring  to  those  passages  Scripture 
which  he  subsequently  comments  upon'' in  the  same 
tract,  and  thereby  plainly  reprobates  the  faith  and 
understanding  of  our  standard  writers  upon  the 
same  passages. 

Again,  he  seems  not  afraid  boldly  to  charge 
Friends'  views  of  Scripture  passages,  with  heresy, 
with  "  being  the  means  of  aiding  that  tremendous 
lapse  of  heresy  in  America."  Than  which  perhaps 
a  keener  and  more  unjust  reproach  and  sarcasm  has 


340 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


seldom  been  cast  upon  the  faith  of  Friends  by  their 
bitterest  enemies. 

Now  in  solid  consideration  of  the  foregoing  quo- 
tations, it  would  appear  that  until  their  Author  come 
candidly  forward  and  condemn  his  anti-quaker 
views  and  charges  of  ej^ror  and  heresy  upon  the  So- 
ciety, that  his  offering  himself  to  us  as  a  preacher 
of  our  principles,  would  seem  as  absurd  and  contra- 
dictory of  order,  as  any  two  positions  of  practices 
can  well  be. 

A  want  of  conformity  to  the  faith  adopted  by  a 
religious  body,  has  always  been  found  the  very 
root  of  disorder,  and  has  been  palpably  productive 
of  it  in  a  great  variety  of  instances.  Witness  the 
commotions  in  Ohio  and  New  York  Yearly  Meet- 
ings, and  let  me  ask  which  party  was  chargeable 
with  the  disorder  ? — those  who  first  propagated  un- 
sound principles,  or  those  who  withstood  them? 
And  I  will  ask  again,  had  all  a  right  to  withstand 
them?  If  the  ministers  and  elders  failed  to  with- 
stand those  errors  [as  in  many  instances  they  did} 
had  the  common  members  and  young  people  a  right 
to  withstand  them  ? 

The  answer  to  these  last  questions,  must  undoubt- 
edly turn  upon  the  point  of  another,  namely : — 
Whether  the  principles  propagated  by  Ehas  Hicks 
were  substantially  at  variance  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Society  ?  And  so  it  must  be  determined 
after  all  that  can  be  said  in  the  present  case  ; — If  J. 
J.  Gurney's  doctrines  are  substantially  at  variance 
with  the  doctrine  of  Friends,  then  every  member 
of  the  body  has  a  right, — nay,  it  is  the  duty  of  all, 
whether  young  or  old,  to  make  a  stand  against  them 
for  the  body's  sake.  But  if  his  written  sentiments 
are  coincident  with  those  always  held  by  Friends^ 
why  is  it  that  he  does  not  openly  and  candidly  ex- 
plain them,  and  thereby  put  all  our  doubtings  to 
rest  ?  His  evasions  and  refusals  to  do  so  give  in- 
creased uneasiness,  and  render  his  views  and  inten- 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


341 


tions  the  more  distrustful  in  the  minds  of  many,  and 
must  continue  to  do  so  until  he  comply  with  so  just 
a  course  and  the  good  order  which  truth  requires, — 
"  first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother  and  then  come 
and  offer  thy  gift." 

It  is  well  known  that  EKas  Hicks  and  his  abet- 
tors, called  loudly  for  order,  and  denied  every  body 
the  right  of  questioning  the  protective  authority  of 
his  credentials  when  abroad ;  pleading  for  unity, 
charity  and  harmony  with  great  zeal,  in  order  to 
suppress  inquiry.  The  same  order,  love  and  unity 
was  again  called  for  with  much  earnestness  by 
Elisha  Bates  and  the  Beaconites,  whilst  the  great 
breach  of  candor  and  contradiction  was  in  them- 
selves, professing  as  they  did  to  be  sound  friends, 
w^hilst  their  grand  object  was  to  undermine  Quaker- 
ism— feigning  to  support  that  which  they  were  pull- 
ing down; — calling  for  order  to  protect  disorder  ! 

In  an  interview  with  the  subject  of  these  strictures, 
I  informed  him  that  the  minds  of  many  friends,  were 
possessed  of  fears  in  relation  to  the  soundness  of  his 
writings,  and  that  myself  was  one  of  that  number  ; 
and  that  he  had  no  occasion  to  marvel  if  expression 
were  sometimes  given  to  those  fears  :  but  if  the  oc- 
casion of  these  fears  could  be  removed  out  of  the 
way,  that  all  such  fears  and  expressions  would  cease. 
He  now  clearly  understood  me  to  be  calling  upon 
him  for  a  recantation,  and  immediately  entered  into 
a  prompt  defence  and  justification  of  the  said  writ- 
ings— supposed  there  might  be  some  expressions 
which  Friends  did  not  understand,  but  that  there 
was  nothing  in  his  doctrines  at  variance  with 
Quakerism  ! — but  complained  of  the  unfairness  of 
Friends,  as  he  deemed  it,  for  sending  his  last  book 
over  here  to  hurt  his  service,  yet  seemed  not  at  all 
disposed  to  concede  a  single  sentiment  which  it  con- 
tained. He  plead  that  it  was  not  published,  but 
only  printed  for  private  distribution  to  the  minis- 
ters and  elders.  But  I  asked  him  if  he  did  not  present 


342 


LETTERS,  ETC, 


it  to  the  Morning  Meeting  in  order  for  publication  ? 
To  which  he  replied  that  he  read  it  to  the  Morning 
Meeting,  and  they  separated  it  from  another  work 
presented  at  the  same  time  ;  but  laid  no  prohibition 
upon  his  printing  it  upon  his  own  responsibility  ? 

Now,  can  we  suppose  that  he  would  prepare  it 
for  the  press,  and  finally  carry  it  over  the  heads  of 
that  body,  and  print  it  for  the  ministers  and  elders, 
unless  it  was  a  correct  transcript  of  his  own  senti- 
ments. Nor  does  he  make  any  pretension  that  I 
have  ever  heard,  that  the  views  are  not  his  own. 
In  the  last  paragraph  of  this  book  he  says, 

"  Were  I  required  to  define  Quakerism,  I  would 
not  describe  it  as  the  system  so  elaborately  wrought 
out  by  a  Barclay,  or  as  the  doctrine  and  maxims  of 
a  Penn,  or  as  the  deep  and  refined  views  of  a  Pen- 
nington ;  for  all  these  authors  have  their  defects  as 
well  as  their  excellencies  ; — I  should  call  it  the  reli- 
gion of  the  New  Testament,  &c." 

From  which  proposition  these  several  conclu- 
sions do  naturally  result,  1st.  If  Jos.  J.  Gurney's 
Quakerism  is  at  variance  from  Barclay,  Penn  and 
Pennington,  it  must  be  of  a  spurious  kind,  and  not 
entitled  to  the  name ;  for  there  is  no  other  legiti- 
mate Quakerism,  but  that  adopted  and  defined  by 
them  and  their  coinciding  cotemporaries  ;  and  the 
name  belongs  only  to  a  people  of  their  peculiar  prin- 
ciples.* 2d.  The  charge  of  defection  here  laid 
upon  Barclay,  Penn  and  Pennington,  leaves  his 
readers  entirely  at  liberty  to  place  them  on  a  level, 
or  even  below  a  WicklifFe,  a  Baxter,  or  a  Bunyan,  in 
point  of  Christian  faith ;  for  it  maybe  truly  said, 
that  these  last  had  their  excellencies  as  well  as  their 
defects.    3.  This  proposition  is  so  shaped  that  it 


*  And  for  any,  as  we  have  heretofore  thought,  to  claim  credence 
under  this  name  without  a  conformity  to  its  whole  creed,  is  making 
rather  free  with  that  which  belongeth  not  to  them. 


LETTER3,  ETC. 


343 


plainly  denies  to  the  doctrine  of  Barclay,  Penn  and 
Pennington  an  accordance  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
New  Testament. 

Finally,  if  his  printed  works,  (as  above  shown, 
defended  and  justified  by  himself)  are  to  be  admit- 
ted as  a  test  of  his  faith,  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt 
in  the  mind  of  any  candid  reader,  of  his  readiness  of 
mind  lor  the  Society  of  Friends  to  make  an  obvious 
change  (in  some,  at  least)  of  their  fundamental  doc- 
trines, from  those  originally  acknowledged.  And 
probably,  as  he  suggests,  so  he  thinks,  that  the 
sooner  such  change  is  made,  (or  as  he  calls  it  a  cor- 
rection of  error)  the  better  for  the  growth  of  our 
little  section  of  the  Christian  Church  !  But  my 
dear  friend,  I  trust  there  are  a  few  yet  among  us, 
who  are  so  entirely  satisfied  that  Quakerism  is  in 
unison  with  primitive  Christianity,  (and  I  can  but 
hope  that  thyself  and  wife  are  of  this  number)  that 
they  wiil,  regardless  of  consequences,  cleave  to  it 
without  abatement  and  without  a  compromise — 
will  faithfully  watch,  guard  and  testify  against  all 
innovations,  and  every  doctrine  which  stands  at 
variance  with  the  faith  of  the  true  Gospel  of  life  and 
peace  as  held  by  our  worthy  predecessors,  let  those 
opposing  doctrines  be  advanced  and  advocated  by 
whom  they  may,  and  under  whatever  circumstan- 
ces they  may  be  advanced  : — and  unto  how  much 
suffering  of  reproach  soever  the  adherence  of  these, 
to  first  principles  may  expose  them,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  a  remnant  at  least  will  be  found  loyal  to  those 
principles. 

The  apprehension  that  thou  might  not  be  in  pos- 
session of  some  of  the  information  above  adduced, 
led  me  the  m.ore  to  consider  the  propriety  of  fulfil  ■ 
ling  an  attraction  to  duty  in  thus  freely  unfolding  a 
view,  (however  imperfectly)  of  the  present  aspect 
of  things,  believing  that  such  as  thyself  and  wife 
ought  not  to  be  kept  uninformed  of  those  things 


344 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


which  have  so  direct  a  bearing  upon  the  safety  of 
our  Society. 

And  as  we  can  hardly  act  in  a  manner  purely 
defensive  against  him  who  acts  in  a  manner  offensive 
without  a  personal  allusion  to  such  an  one  who  has 
taken  the  field  before  us,  thou  wilt  expect  no  further 
apology  on  that  score,  it  being  no  more  than  the 
upholding  of  Truth's  testimonies  requires; — and  in 
that  conclusion  I  rest,  and  am  thy  sincere  friend, 
hoping  that  if  thou  find  any  thing  exceptionable 
herein  contained,  that  thou  wilt  freely  remark  upon 
it,  through  the  same  medium  of  pen  and  paper. 

JOHN  WILBUR. 


THOMAS  SHILLITOE'S 

Testimony  against  the  writings  of  Joseph  John  Gur- 
ney,  delivered  by  him  three  days  hefore  his  de- 
cease, taken  down  from  Ms  lips  by  . 

"  Thomas  Shillitoe  said,  this  testimony  rested  on 
his  mind,  and  he  must  have  it  committed  to  paper, 
as  he  found  his  peace  consisted  in  so  doing,  (ad- 
dressing  .)     Thou  wilt  want  a  great 

deal  of  time  and  patience  to  hear  what  I  have  got 
to  say,  and  it  must  be  faithfully  delivered,  for  I  am 
afraid  at  a  future  day  it  will  devolve  heavy  upon 
thy  shoulders.  It  is  extraordinary  that  thou 
shouldst  have  come  in  at  this  juncture,  for  I  have 
been  wanting  my  son-in-law  to  come  in  and  put 
down  what  I  am  now  better  satisfied  should  be  re- 
ceived by  thee  from  my  mouth :  And  I  therefore 
declare,  unequivocally  against  the  generality  of  the 
writings  of  Joseph  John  Gurney,  as  being  non- 
Quaker  principles,  not  sound  Quaker  principles,  but 
Episcopalian  ones  ;  and  they  have  done  great  mis- 
chief in  our  Society,  and  the  Society  will  go  gradu- 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


345 


ally  down  if  it  yields  to  the  further  circulation  of 
that  part  of  his  works  w^hich  they  have  in  their 
power  to  suppress  ;  this  is  my  firm  belief.  I  have 
labored  under  the  weight  of  it  for  the  last  twelve 
months,  beyond  what  human  nature  is  able  to  sup- 
port, and  the  committee  of  the  Morning  Meeting 
which  passed  that  last  work,  (Gurney's  Peculiari- 
ties, with  a  new  title)  must  be  willing  to  come  for- 
ward to  be  sufficiently  humble  to  acknowledge  their 
error.  And  the  meeting  for  Sufferings  must  also 
be  willing  to  remove  its  authority  in  allowing  it  to 
be  given  aw^ay  to  those  not  of  our  Society.  I  de- 
clare the  author  is  an  Episcopalian,  not  a  Quaker. 
I  apprehend  Joseph  John  Gurney  is  no  Quaker  in 
principle.  Episcopalian  views  were  imbibed  from 
his  education  and  still  remain  with  him.  I  love  the 
man  for  the  w^ork's  sake,  so  far  as  it  goes,  but  he 
has  never  been  emptied  from  vessel  to  vessel,  and 
from  sieve  to  sieve,  nor  knowm  the  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  of  fire  to  cleanse  the  floor  of  his 
heart  from  his  Episcopalian  notions.  He  has  spread 
a  linsey  woolsey  garment  over  our  members ;  but 
in  a  future  day  it  will  be  stripped  off,  it  will  be  too 
short  for  them,  as  they  will  be  without  Jesus  Christ 
the  Lord.  This  is  my  dying  testimony,  and  I  must 
sign  it.  If  1  had  been  faithful  I  should  have  express- 
ed it  in  the  last  Yearly  Meeting  of  ministers  and 
elders,  (1836.)  but  I  hope  I  shall  be  forgiven.  Oh 
Lord,  accept  me  w^ith  the  best  I  have. 

I  have  letters  from  America  w^hich  confirm  me 
in  the  truths  of  every  part  of  w^hat  I  now  state.  I 
believe  there  is  not  an  individual  member  of  our 
Society  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  more  wil- 
ling to  do  good  than  Joseph  John  Gurney,  but  wil- 
lingness is  no  qualification.  This  is  my  dying  tes- 
timony to  Quaker  view^s,  especially  as  to  the  minis- 
try ;  what  was  anti-christ  in  George  Fox's  days  is 
anli-christ  now.  The  clergy  of  this  country,  to 
a  man,  every  one  of  them,  are  anti-Christ  so  long 
15* 


346 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


as  they  wear  the  gowns  and  receive  the  pay,  and 
continue  building  up  the  people  in  the  relicts  of 
popery,  which  the  church  of  England  left  behind : 
it  will  not  do  to  speak  of  a  man  doing  a  great  deal 
for  a  little  pay,  and  call  him  a  minister  of  Christ.  It 
is  a  grievous  thing  that  any  minister  in  our  Society 
should  so  speak.  They  are  anti-Christ  still,  since 
they  lead  the  people  from  Christ,  and  yet  I  love 
some  of  them  for  the  work's  sake,  so  far  as  they  go. 

The  writer  was  a  neighbor  of  Thomas  Shillitoe, 
and  came  in  unexpected  :  he  does  not  entertain  the 
views  Thomas  Shillitoe  did.  Thomas  Shillitoe's 
daughter  and  grand-daughter  were  present  at  the 
time  the  above  was  delivered." 

A  few  copies  have  been  circulated  here  (Eng- 
land,) the  Friend  was  so  remarkable  in  his  day  for 
honest  simplicity,  and  his  dying  testimony  so  strik- 
ing and  correct ;  I  have  transcribed  it  for  thy  peru- 
sal, though  to  thee  unknown,  the  narrative  also  is 
very  scarce.  Truth  needs  to  fear  no  exposure. 
Error  can't  too  soon  be  detected,  the  day  calls  for 
unflinching  integrity. 


To  the  members  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  of  Ministers 
and  Elders,  [England.^ 
Dear  Friends: — In  the  feelings,  as  I  apprehend, 
of  the  pure  love  of  the  truth,  it  seems  with  me  to  ex- 
press my  fervent  desire  that  those  things  which 
tend  to  pi'omote  our  peace,  and  things  whereby  we 
may  edify  one  another  may  prevail  in  our  minds. 
Some  of  you  know  that  I  manifested  my  concern 
on  account  of  the  Morning  Meeting.  This  concern 
still  remaining  on  my  mind,  I  believe  it  right  to 
communicate  something  further  on  the  subject.  It 
feels  trying  to  me  to  have  thus  to  plead  with  my 
friends  respecting  the  Morning  Meeting ;  but  I  be- 
lieve I  must  say  it  has  been  a  great  trouble,  both  to 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


347 


me  and  to  many  other  Friends  who  love  the  truth, 
that  the  members  of  that  meeting  should  have  pass- 
ed such  things  as  they  have  done  in  J.  J.  Gurney's 
writings,  both  in  his  works  entitled  Religious  Pecu- 
liarities, &c.,  but  more  particularly  in  the  revised 
edition  with  additions.  In  these  publications  there 
is  that  which  I  consider  very  contrary  to  the  prin- 
ciples and  doctrines  which  we,  as  a  people,  make 
profession  of,  and  which  we  fully  believe  to  be  con- 
sistent with  the  Scriptures  of  truth.  Also  in  his 
Essays  on  Christianity,  which  I  suppose  did  not 
pass  the  Morning  Meeting,  there  is  much  that  is 
objectionable.  In  this  publication,  there  is  held  forth 
that  which  Friends  and  many  others  have  declared 
against  as  unsafe,  dangerous  and  unauthorized  by 
the  Scriptures.  I  mean  the  speaking  of  the  Father 
as  a  person,  of  the  Son  as  a  person,  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  as  a  person.  There  are  several  extracts 
from  Friend's  writings  in  the  first  chapter  of  Thos. 
Evans'  Exposition  of  the  Faith  of  Friends,  showing 
the  inconsistency  and  unscriptural  mode  of  so  speak- 
inor.  Richard  Clarrido^e  has  also  WTitten  a  tract, 
giving,  not  only  his  own  views  upon  it,  but  the  views 
of  many  Friends  and  learned  authors  of  different  re- 
ligious denominations,  such  for  instance  as  bishop 
Burnet,  Calvin,  Luther,  Jeremy  Taylor,  Archbishop 
Tillotson  and  Usher,  with  many  others  whose  sen- 
timents are  well  worthy  of  our  attention. 

The  injury  J.  J.  Gurney's  writings  have  done,  are 
likely  still  to  do,  to  our  Society,  and  to  the  cause  of 
truth,  seems  to  me  to  be  very  great,  and  I  cannot 
but  conclude  that  the  affectionate  part  and  the 
wisdom  of  man  must  have  prevailed  in  the  mind- 
of  the  members,  or  they  would  not  have  suffers 
ed  what  they  did  to  pass,  and  as  respects  the 
Essays,  did  not  that  work  require  the  attention 
of  the  meeting  for  Sufferings,  to  whom  is  entrust- 
ed a  general  care  of  whatever  may  arise  dur- 
ing the  interval  of  the  Yearly  Meeting  affecting 


348 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


our  religious  Society,  and  requiring  its  immediate 
attention.  And  should  a  work  like  this,  so  opposed 
to  what  the  Society  has  always  maintained,  be  per- 
mitted to  be  printed  and  published,  and  spread  ex- 
tensively as  this  has  been,  by  any  members,  more 
especially  by  one  in  the  station  of  a  minister,  with- 
out that  meeting's  declaring  against  it :  seeing  more- 
over that  works  coming  from  such  an  one,  may,  by 
those  not  acquainted  with  our  principles,  be  thought 
consistent  with  them,  whilst  they  are  quite  the  re- 
verse. It  is  my  fervent  desire,  that  Friends  who 
have  in  any  way  been  improperly  influenced,  may 
be  favored  to  submit  to  the  renewed  baptism  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  that  so  the  Divine  anointing  which 
alone  gives  clearness  of  vision  may  be  afforded 
them,  and  truth  without  mixture,  supported  and 
propagated. 

For  much  mixture,  and  consequently  much  weak- 
ness, has  got  in,  and  has  for  some  years  prevailed 

among  us.  Otherwise,  .,  .,  and  .  would 

not  have  been  allowed  to  travel  together — to  hold 
such  meetings,  and  to  propagate  such  sentiments 
among  the  young  people,  as  they  have  done,  to  the 
occasioning  of  a  great  burden  and  deep  concern  in 
the  minds  of  the  living  members,  where  such  meet- 
ings have  been  held.  Neither  would  the  Yearly 
Meeting  of  Ministers  and  Elders  have  given  certifi- 
cates of  approval  to  E.  Bates'  preaching,  which  act 
was  also  a  grievous  burden  to  many  well  concerned 
Friends. 

These  things  have  rested  much  on  my  mind,  par- 
ticularly during  my  present  illness,  and  it  must  be 
very  evident  that  J.  J.  Gurney's  interpretations  of 
the  Scripture  are  so  contrary  to  those  of  the  Socie- 
ty from  its  first  commencement,  that  if  his  interpre- 
tations are  to  prevail,  then  the  Society  must  change 
its  ground,  and  become  an  inconsistent  mixture  of 
Quakerism  and  Episcopalianism.  This  I  believe 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church  will  never  permit ; 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


349 


but  those  who  are  unfaithful  and  turn  aside,  and 
prove  themselves  altogether  unworthy  to  support  the 
standard  and  testimonies  of  truth,  w^ill  be  rejected 
and  scattered,  whilst  others  will  be  brought  in,  and 
prepared,  and  qualified  to  unite  in  maintaining  pure 
primitive  Christianity,  and  in  showing  forth  the 
Lord's  praise  among  the  nation. 

These  things  deeply  impressed  and  afflicted  the 
minds  of  our  dear  Friends,  Thomas  Shillitoe  and 
John  Barclay,  who  are  in  mercy  gathered  to  their 
everlasting  rest.  And  now,  in  thus  relieving  my 
mind,  I  have  a  hope  I  shall,  through  the  unmerited 
mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  be  favored  to  die  in 
peace,  to  enter  one  of  those  mansions  w^hich  our 
blessed  Lord  declared  he  w^ent  before  to  prepare  for 
his  followers,  for  those  who  not  only  believe  in  his 
outw^ard  appearance,  but  in  fulfilling  of  his  promise, 
that  he  would  come  again,  and  that  he  w^ho  was 
W'ith  them,  should  be  in  them,  without  which  second 
appearance  and  faithful  following  of  Him  in  spirit, 
and  submitting  to  his  purifying  power,  how  can  we 
be  prepared  tor  acceptance  with  him. 

In  looking  over  the  foregoing  address,  you,  my 
friends,  are  afresh  brought  very  near  to  me,  with 
feelings  of  fervent  desire,  that  we  may  not  be  of 
the  number  of  the  wise  and  prudent,  from  whom 
our  Lord  said  the  things  whereof  he  spake  were 
hid,  but  rather  that  we  may  be  of  the  babes,  unto 
whom  they  are  revealed,  having  our  dependence  on 
our  Almighty  Father  for  guidance,  preservation  and 
support,  in  the  way  to  the  kingdom  of  eternal  rest 
and  peace. 

I  remain  your  sincere  friend, 

GEORGE  JONES. 
Stockport,  9th  of  5th  month,  1839. 


350 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


RALPH  WARDLAW'S 
Opinion  of  Joseph  John  Gurney, 

Ralph  Wardlaw,  a  Presbyterian  priest  of  Scot- 
land, called  D.  D.  in  letters  which  he  has  published, 
addressed  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  on  some  of 
their  distinguishing  principles,  says  :  "  I  have  given 
in  copious  extracts  the  views  of  J.  J.  Gurney,  on  the 
doctrine  of  justification.  They  are  clear,  simple, 
Scriptural — but  are  they  Q  jakerism  ?  Let  none  be 
startled  by  the  question  ;  it  is  not  a  hasty,  inconsid- 
erate one.  I  shall  show  you  there  is  room  for  it. 
There  are  large  portions  of  the  writings  of  this 
highly  intelligent  and  devoted  Friend,  in  which  we 
entirely  lose  sight  of  the  peculiarities  of  Quaker 
sentiments,  and  Quaker  phraseology.  He  seems  to 
lay  aside  his  garb,  or  rather  to  divest  the  system  of 
the  costume  in  which  before,  it  had  invariably  ap- 
peared. But  for  the  occurrence  of  here  and  there 
a  word,  or  phrase,  which  to  those  familiar  with  the 
language  of  the  body,  conveys  more  than  others 
might  at  all  think  of,  we  go  through  entire  sections 
with  unmingled  pleasure  ;  losing  the  Friend  in  the 
Christian — almost  forgetting  even  the  inward  light. 
I  presume  I  speak  according  to  truth,  when  I  repre- 
sent them  as  the  first  Quaker  writings,  at  least  of  any 
eminence  professing  this  character.  He  stands  per 
se  and  (if  I  am  not  greatly  mistaken)  with  no  incon- 
siderable proportion  of  the  more  rigid  Friends,  who 
belong  to  the  old  school,  and  hold  by  the  ancient 
Fathers  of  Quakerism,  he  has  on  this  very  account 
been  losing  caste/'    Page  195. 

"  The  terms  in  which  Mr.  Gurney  invariably 
speaks  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  and  which  it  is  my 
delight  to  see  him  using,  are  such  as  to  convert  those 
employed  by  him  respecting  the  independent  influ- 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


351 


ence  and  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  into  Uttle 
more  than  words  without  meaning."    Page  351. 

"  My  judgment  and  my  feehngs  being  in  thorough 
accordance  with  those  of  Mr.  Gurney,  in  all  that  he 
says  of  the  paramount  authority  of  the  word  of  God 
as  contained  in  the  volume  of  Revelation,  I  cannot 
see  how^  he  can  be  in  harmony  with  himself,  till  he 
has  thrown  aside  the  remnant  of  Quaker  doctrine  to 
which  he  still  tenaciously  clings.  I  mean  this  imme- 
diate revelation,  under  the  modified  designation  by 
which  he  has  chosen  to  qualify  and  recommend  it.  I 
cannot  but  fancy  to  myself  the  surprise  and  indig- 
nation with  w^hich  some  of  the  old  Fathers  of  Qua- 
kerism would  be  stirred,  by  the  attempts  to  explain 
away  to  so  great  an  extent  their  most  favorite  dog- 
mas, and  to  fritter  down  the  meaning  of  their  phra- 
seology ;  till  there  is  hardly  left  a  shred  of  distinc- 
.  tion  between  them  and  the  Christian  world  at  large." 
Page  358. 

"  It  would  be  unseemly  presumption  in  me  to  dis- 
pute the  accuracy  of  Mr.  Gurney's  statement 
respecting  the  views  entertained  by  his  own  body : 
but  really  it  is  impossible  to  read  the  writings  of 
the  older  Quakers — the  Fathers  of  the  family,  with- 
out being  sensible  that  there  is  a  prodigious  soften- 
ing down  on  the  part  of  this  writer  of  their  opinions 
and  language."    Page  365. 

"  Mr.  Gurney  conceives  that  every  true  Quaker 
is  prepared  cordially  to  acknowledge  that  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  they  alone,  are  a  divinely  authorized 
record  of  all  the  doctrines  which  we  are  required 
to  believe,  and  of  all  the  moral  principles  that  are 
to  regulate  our  actions,  not  to  mention  the  lumi- 
nous declaration  which  they  contain  of  our  relative 
and  particular  duties. 

"  And  indeed  on  this,  and  various  other  points,  it 
cannot  fail  to  strike  the  most  superficial  reader,  what 
a  perfect  discordance  there  is  between  the  writings 
of  Mr.  Gurney  and  those  of  the  early  Friends.  I 


352 


LETTERS,  ETC. 


am  very  far  from  wishing  Mr.  Gurney  to  take  a 
single  step  out  of  Quakerism,  in  points  where  Qua- 
kerism is  true.  In  other  points,  however,  he  has 
already  taken  several,  and  those,  too,  even  larger 
strides  than  any  that  now  remain  for  him  to  take. 
May  the  Divine  Spirit  be  graciously  pleased,  by 
means  of  that  complete  revelation,  which  he  has 
given  to  lead  not  him  only  but  you,  my  friends,  and 
myself,  and  every  fellow-Christian  and  fellow-man 
around  us  into  all  truihr    Page  367. 


